For Your Dream
by The Itch
Summary: AU : "I know. Please feel at ease, I am your weapon, Zabuzasan." Certain events cause an unexpected outcome, and a young hero fades away, taking up the clay mask of the subordinate of the Demon of the Mist: Haku ON HIATUS
1. chapter 01

A strange idea that wouldn't leave me alone...

Slight crossover with Naruto, but for the most part, it's Harry Potter. At least... it is after this first part!

...and yes, I know everyone wants more Blackened Sunrise. Buzz off, it's on hiatus until I feel up to rewriting all the parts I don't like.

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 1, Chapter 1  
The Itch

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**It** was cold. The snow had been falling for three days straight, and yet the child did not move.

He simply sat there on the edge of the river and watched the cold dark waters whip past, his green eyes bereft of life. Rarely did he move, and when he did it was only to curl up tighter upon himself. His rags were soaked through, chilling him to his very bones and yet he could not find it within himself to care. There seemed to be more dirt than skin on his face, and it was even in his hair; matting it into a tangled mess of knots and snarls.

Looking down at that pathetic waif of a child, he wondered if the smart move would be to just put the boy out of his misery; to just throw him into the river and be done with it. Street trash was merely street trash, after all.

It was then that those dull eyes turned away from the water, and looked up at him. The man and the boy stared at each other for an indeterminable period of time, each lost within their own thoughts; and so it was that it was the man who spoke first, even as his eyes shifted in surprise to the scar that was so prominently displayed on the boy's forehead.

"A kid like you will not be needed by anyone and die a beggar."

It was a lie, but only in part. With the way that the child was shivering and the threadbare quality of his thin clothing... it was doubtful that the boy would live to the age where he would be "taken in" by those that had abandoned him when his usefulness as a child had run out.

The boy, however, did not seem to be listening to his words; only vaguely did he acknowledge them as they had been spoken, instead smiling up at the man. It was a broken smile, one of fear and of bitter guilt. A flash of self-loathing briefly flickered through the depths of his dead eyes; eyes that were still focused solely on his.

"You have the same eyes as me."

His eyes widened slightly as he realized this fact, and a ripple of confusion curled in the back of his mind. He didn't know why they should, would, did have the same eyes. He was a man who had been thrown out of his own family simply for what he had the misfortune to be born as. Why would this child, this oh-so-famous child, have the same dead eyes as a man who had learned to hate where he had come from, and to revel in his job?

The boy simply continued to smile, tipping his head slightly. His long and shaggy dark hair slipped out of his face, only serving to make the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead that much clearer. For a moment, the man paused as a thought struck him and then behind his thick scarf, he too smiled. It was not the same broken smile that the boy shared with him; it was a dead smile, a small look at the emptiness within.

"Kid. Do you want to be needed by someone?" he held the boy's gaze for a moment before he continued at the sight of the child's curiosity. "Can you give everything to me?"

It was slow in coming, but eventually the boy nodded and climbed to his feet.

"Starting today, your ability is mine." he pulled the boy close to him, and for a moment, he thought about just walking off. But that scar was just far too visible. He didn't need any of the muggle-borns that they might come across realizing that he was not a member of the boy's family, and therefore did not have a reason to be taking the Boy-Who-Lived anywhere.

"Boy," he started, and was surprised when a shudder ran through the body beneath his hand.

"Please... don't call me that," the young Harry Potter whispered, in a voice so soft it almost went unheard.

"Why." It was not a question; it was a demand. Harry looked away.

"My... uncle called me that. Before... before I killed him."

Ah... now that was something that he could understand. He smirked slightly, wishing that he had had the power to do the same to his most worthless of parents. "Than what shall I call you? Certainly not... Harry Potter." This time the child jumped as thought he had been stung, and terrified eyes looked up into his. The man chuckled. "Your face is all over the muggle news." It most certainly was not, but lies could be so useful when used properly. "The constables are looking for you in connection with your uncle's murder."

"Please..." his whisper was desperate, "Please don't take me to them."

"I wasn't planning on it," he looked away from the boy, out towards where the horizon would be had civilization not hidden it from view. "You are my tool, child. With your abilities..." he trailed off, forcing away the giddy rush that threatened to take him over. "In any case, we need to do something about that scar of yours. It's far to visible and distinct."

"What should I do, sir?"

"Zabuza Momochi," the man corrected. "Call me... Zabuza-san. It may not be my real name, but it is the name I've gone by since I was denied the Lestrange name." it was a sore spot, as it always had been, that he would be denied the name he was given at birth simply because he could do no magic. Oh what would his "beloved" parents think now? Now that he was just as deadly with his "muggle toys" as they were with their magic...? Not that it mattered considering that both were long dead, and the rest of his family was locked up tight in Azkaban with his deplorable sister-in-law.

"What should I do, Zabuza-san?"

The dark haired squib frowned for a moment, before he pulled off his own scarf and wrapped it around the boy's head. The tails were too long, but what mattered was that the boy's scar was covered. "This will do for now. Your name, though... that is well known as well--" and that, most assuredly, was no lie, "--so you will just have to learn to respond to a different name."

Harry was relieved. He would be useful to someone; it was a feeling that he had not had since the accidental deaths of his family. He would not be able to forget the terrified screams of his aunt and cousin, nor the horrifying sound of the ice spikes tearing them and their home into pieces... but this was a start on the way to becoming someone. To being useful.

He smiled up at Zabuza. "I can do that."

* * *

It had been an exercise in his control, and one that Haku was positive that he would not have been able to do even just three weeks ago. What was it about Uzumaki Naruto that had forced him to act with the power he had repressed for so many long years? What was it about Naruto that made him whisper a prayer on the cleaver every night before he went to bed?

Ice had gathered on the cleaver's blade, on the side that stared out over the cliff; this was the side that Naruto never looked at. It had taken a great deal of concentration and very precise chakra control to ensure that the ice did not extend out around the edges of the blade, just in case the young genin was still in the area. Oh, he knew that the cheerful blond wouldn't be there, but it was a precaution created after two weeks of Naruto's nightly visits.

But Naruto had gone back to Konoha, with the memories of his first brush with death still tickling the back of his mind. Haku was sincerely apologetic that he had to be the one to create that first crack in the child's mind, to set him down the path towards becoming a true ninja... but he would not change it. Zabuza-san had needed him, and he had responded even above his own wish for death.

Stepping out of the ice that covered the gleaming edge of the cleaver, Haku paused to stare out over the cliff, only peripherally aware of the sun setting.

If he were being honest with himself, he would miss this beautiful land. He would miss everything that he had learned and done here.

But he was a tool, and he was happy with his lot in life. He would do anything for Zabuza-san's dream-- anything at all. It was with that thought that the former hunter-nin reached up and pulled the blade free from the soft soil that buried two bodies.

With the blade resting carefully across his shoulders the ninja withdrew two senbon. It was harder to target through an object, and the earth was certainly the greatest of objects to try and aim through, but he was fully capable of such a task. The needles flew with such force that they pierced the earth and cut down into the "bodies" below.

A string of chakra connected him to each of his senbon, and it was along that line of energy that Haku sent a spark of... he hesitated to call it magic. Truly, it was nothing of the sort. It was simply the energy behind the magic; mana, he thought it might be called, but he couldn't be sure of that. He hadn't really had much of a chance to study his birthright. Well, whatever that energy may be, it lanced down the path of chakra that he had left for it, and struck the two bodies.

It reversed the transfiguration.

There were two metal girders in the ground now, not two bodies. Without the cleaver to show just where "Momochi Zabuza" and "Haku" were buried, they would not have to worry about anyone trying to "steal" their techniques and abilities from their bodies.

With one hand he ran through the focusing seals to call up one of his ice mirrors, and stepped through it. On the other side he found himself back in that humid cavern where he had been caring for Zabuza-san. While he himself had escaped with only minor injures--kawarimi with a side of transfiguration while Hatake Kakashi's Chidori technique was bare millimeters from piercing his chest had not been a pleasurable experience-- Zabuza-san had nearly died. In fact, he would have died had Haku's desperation not forced him to try an incredibly complex and mostly untested jutsu.

It had taken a large chunk of his chakra and an equal amount of mana in order to transfigure a girder into a _bleeding_ dummy of Zabuza-san, and then to use another form of kawarimi in order to replace the dummy with the Zabuza-san... all while Zabuza-san was touching the Haku-dummy. Following that up by stabilizing Zabuza-san while tucked up under that bridge had been even harder, but Haku had been determined. Once again he had been forced to put Zabuza-san into the death-like state, but he had done it.

After that it was a waiting game; waiting until Hatake Kakashi passed out from chakra exhaustion, waiting until the workers left, waiting until Tazuna and his remaining Konoha guard left... it had been a long time to be hiding under the bridge with Zabuza-san cradled in his arms. His chakra and mana had been depleted to the point where he could barely even stagger away from the bridge. He had left Zabuza-san's cleaver behind out of necessity, but Haku was sure that he would be able to retrieve it at another time. What mattered most was Zabuza-san's survival.

That was why he had spent two weeks nursing the man back to health and two weeks watching Naruto come, night after night, to where the bodies of the first two victims of his life as a ninja were buried. Now that Naruto had left for Konoha, Haku was finally able to take the weapon back. The two missing ninja would be leaving soon, as well, Haku mused as he set the weapon own beside his sleeping master.

His hand went to the old letter inside of his gi top, where it had been tucked for the past three years. It had taken the owl a very long time to actually locate the elusive ninja, and then it had died. Not from age or exhaustion, or any such natural means, but because Haku had been hungry, and he has seen the bird in the air above it. It wasn't until after the bird was dead that he had noticed the letter that had been addressed to his birth name.

It was time for Harry Potter to return to the wizarding world, whether he wanted to or not.

It was, after all, Zabuza-san's decision.

* * *

**E**nd Part One

...you know, I made myself watch Haku die for the eighteenth time to get the dialogue. And then I had to watch Zabuza-san die again. Every damn time Zabuza-san dies I cry. Every damn time. I've watched him die nearly thirty-times. ZABUZA-SAN! WHY MUST YOU DIE! (bawls)

**original word count:** 1968 words  
**revision word count:** 2229 words


	2. chapter 02

_I feel it, the pressure inside of me..._

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 1, Chapter 2  
The Itch

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**It** was snowing when they finally arrived, and though both of the ninja were soaked through to the bone, neither of them paid any attention to the weather itself.

It was far easier than either of them had assumed it would be to enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; there did not seem to be any physical defenses against invasion. Behind the hunter-nin mask that he had remade on the long trip from China to Scotland, Haku was frowning; they had moved with the kind of speed that only a ninja could posses and it had still taken them many months to arrive. Today was Christmas Day. Obviously, this meant that there would be less people at the school due to the holiday season, but both Haku and Zabuza had assumed that a castle such as the one that they had just broken into would have been more guarded.

As the two men bounced from decoration to decoration up to the ceiling, Haku would tap the walls with one of his senbon. It was a crude method, but the only one available to him, of getting a feel for the mana streams that ran through the building. It was also a habit long since built up to help him guide his particular "bloodline limit".

To this day, it still amused him that the ninja he had left behind all those months ago believed that a bloodline limit was a chakra specific ability. In reality, it was a highly trained form of wandless magic. From what little research he had been able to do into the subject--mostly so that he would have a better idea of what he could do with his own "demonic mirrors"-- the youth believed that the first one in a family line to have a bloodline limit merely meant that someone had done some accidental magic that had manifested itself in a particular way. For example, the Uchiha Sharingan or the Hyuuga Byakugan eyes. From that point onwards, it would be trained as an ability that could only be passed on down through the family line. This was hardly the truth, but given China's lack of ability to get _every_ magic-user within its borders, it was understandable that one could mistake magic for a special blood-specific technique.

This was only amplified by the fact that many of the Asiatic magic users currently living in China actually lived in a specially made magic "bubble" that had been set up by the ancient Japanese wizards. It had originally been meant to train squibs in methods of protecting themselves against wizards who believed that squibs were little more than wastes of space. At present, however, Haku sincerely doubted that any of the present day Japanese wizards even remembered their ancestor's continually expanding "world in a bubble"; Zabuza himself had only found it by accident, and only after he had been travelling for some time.

"Here," Haku murmured, switching direction easily. Zabuza was only a half-step behind him as they headed up a flight of stairs over the head of a stone... creature. Haku had no idea what type of creature the beastly figure was, and he didn't really care to find out. He was, however, amused by the fact that it had tilted its head back in order to glare at them for getting past it.

The pair slipped into a clutter, and empty of people, room at the top of the staircase. Zabuza's eyes landed on the plush chair behind the desk, and he quickly settled himself into it with a smirk. "Ah... how comfortable."

"Is it?" Haku smiled indulgently at his master, and drifted over to a nearby bookshelf to brush his fingers along the well-worn spines. Such a collection of books...! It had been a long time since he had seen so many actual books; most of what he had seen and read for the past few years had been training scrolls. As nice as a scroll was, a book was ten times easier to read.

"Can I help you gentlemen?"

Haku glanced out of the corner of his eye at the old man who had entered from another entrance, unsurprised. As highly trained as they were, the two former mist-ninja had long felt the approaching chakra.

"Haku."

"Hai, Zabuza-san." the tool plucked the well-worn letter from his top and tossed it into the desk beside Momochi's booted feet. Zabuza reached over and picked it up, flicking it open to display the unique green ink of Hogwarts.

"It may be a few years late," the missing-nin smirked, "But he's here."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts raised a curious eyebrow, and Zabuza passed him the letter that was quite clearly addressed to "Harry Potter". Albus Dumbledore lost his composure for but a moment, his eyes widening behind his half-moon glasses, before he dared to look up at the man. "How did you get this letter?"

"I've had it for three years," Haku murmured as he turned away from the books and directed his attention to the old man.

"That still doesn't explain how you got it," Dumbledore pointed out, returning Haku's attention with a stern look. "That also leaves the two years before that unaccounted for."

"Owls are not long distance flyers, Headmaster," Zabuza was smirking beneath the bandages that covered his face, "especially not when they have to travel from Scotland to the Chinese coast."

"China?"

"China," Zabuza confirmed, his smirk widening to almost sinister proportions, "the one place in the entire world where not all the magicians go to such high class schools as this. The one place in the entire world where the majority of magic users don't even know that they can do magic... and by the time that they do, their clan is so devoted to a particular village that they will never leave." Zabuza was not about to tell the Headmaster about the ninja-villages, or about their protection from the so called Wizarding World. He had plans for it--he still wanted to kill the Mizukage, after all-- and it wouldn't do for everything to be destroyed just because a bunch of idiot English wizards found the place. Zabuza was conveniently ignoring the fact that his tool would have been one of those "idiot English wizards", had he allowed things to take their natural course.

"Never? Well I rather doubt that," the Headmaster chuckled.

"... there was the Uchiha that left Konoha, Zabuza-san," Haku murmured. Both he and Zabuza had looked into the clan of the Sharingan after that first battle with Kakashi, although they hadn't learned all that much. More importantly, they hadn't been able to discover why someone not of Uchiha blood had received one of the most infamous and jealously guarded bloodlines.

"He was already an adult by Ministry standards," Zabuza pointed out with a dry laugh. "And he would also have been sentenced for the murders of his family, so I doubt that he really counts."

Dumbledore stared down at the man in his seat, and then at the boy who had moved to stand beside him. Finally, the old man sighed. "I suppose proper introductions are in order."

"By all means," Zabuza waved a hand, "You start."

"From what I've seen, you both already know who I am," Albus smiled tightly, "however I will still follow courtesy. I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Zabuza leaned back in his seat. "Zabuza Momochi, once called Rodrick Lestrange, missing-nin and known as The Demon of the Mist."

Haku bowed politely to the Headmaster. "I am Haku, former hunter-nin; currently a missing-nin of the Mist. I am Zabuza-san's tool, age fifteen. I was born Harry Potter." When he rose from his bow, he had removed both his hunter-nin mask and his hitae-ate to reveal the scar that was so prominent beneath it. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Professor Dumbledore."

To say that Dumbledore had been shocked by Zabuza's introduction of himself was an exaggeration. Zabuza did, now that he was looking for it, have the same basic facial structure of the Lestrange family, despite the superficial changes that had occurred when Zabuza had changed his name, or so Albus suspected. To say that he had been shocked by Haku's introduction, on the other hand, was an understatement.

This boy who looked so very much like his mother, aside from having his father's hair color, could be no other than Harry James Potter. The problem was that he didn't act like the Harry that should have come to Hogwarts to begin his lessons in magic five years ago. He didn't act like James, or like Lily, which he had been half expecting. On top of that, that he would call himself the tool of a Lestrange...!

It had taken him some time to reconcile his mental image of Harry Potter and the reality that was Haku into one solid whole. In the meantime, he had shown the two men to a place where they could stay for the time being, and had insisted that they attend the Christmas Feast that night. He had almost sent for a house elf to gather their belongings, but as it turned out all that each man had brought was a single backpack, as well as that monstrous sword of Lestrange's that was, if the Headmaster was being honest with himself, quite the frightening sight.

He had sequestered the men away from the dorms, half afraid of what might happen should one of the children still within the castle walls see that weapon. Harry's scar was of little concern, as the Mist-nin had retired his headband around his forehead to once more hide the famous mark. No, what was more of concern now was the fact that Harry Potter had finally been found, and it was not with preferable company.

"You wished to speak with me, Albus?"

"Ah, Severus! Lemon drop? No, I suppose not," Albus smiled warmly at the Potion Master's annoyed stare, as the old man popped one of the sweets into his mouth. Severus, of course, knew better than to eat the little yellow candies. He was well aware that Albus tended to make them himself, adding in certain potions and spells to help him deal with stubborn or unruly students from time to time.

"Why am I here, Albus?"

"We have a couple of... visitors, if you will, Severus," to Snape's surprised stare, Albus looked... worn. "I must ask you... who is Rodrick Lestrange?"

Severus jerked like he had been slapped. Rodrick? At Hogwarts of all places? How was this even possible?! The boy had gone missing shortly before Voldemort's death.

"Ah, so you do know of him. Please, Severus, explain to me why I have never even heard of this member of the Lestrange family."

"...He was the youngest son of the Lestrange family," Severus finally began, thinking back on memories that he had long buried. "He was barely eight years old when he was disowned from the family; about a year or two before the end of Voldemort."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Disowned?"

"He's a squib," the look in Severus' eyes was distant. "The Lestrange family was very hard on him for a long time. They went so far as to try and force him to use magic, but he was never capable of it. So they gave him up to his nanny, Moemi Momochi, when he was eight. Bellatrix used to say that he would vanish off and on throughout the entire year, before he finally disappeared completely."

"Disappeared?"

Severus sent Albus a cool stare. Did the old man enjoy one word sentences now? The Headmaster made a motion for him to continue with his story, and Severus forced back a sigh. "No one was quite sure what happened to him, only that a mirror in Moemi's bedroom had been shattered... and she had been killed by the largest piece. It was quite deliberate, from all accounts."

At that, Albus' eyes widened behind his glasses. "Zabuza is a murderer?"

"Zabuza?"

"It's the name that Rodrick is currently going by," Albus folded his hands behind his back. "Why did the Ministry never hear of this?"

"I wouldn't know, sir. I assume that it was because Moemi had been considered as little more than a wizard-shaped house elf." Drudging up those particular memories was painful, as it had been around that time that Severus had offered his services to Albus Dumbledore in the fight against Voldemort. Too little, too late, as it were; the Potters had died within a year, and he still felt the guilt heavy on his shoulders for his part in Lily's death. "Why do you ask, Albus?"

"Rodrick Lestrange is here, in the castle." Albus raised a hand to keep Severus from saying anything. "He introduced himself as Zabuza Momochi, and he brought a... companion with him. A boy named Haku-- who is, in reality, Harry Potter."

Well now, Severus mused distantly, that can't be good.

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**E**nd Part Two

I looked up Zabuza-san's age-- he's either in his thirties, or he's 26. I decided on 26-- that makes him the same age as Kakashi.

**original word count:** 1926  
**revision word count:** 2243

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_review responses are from the original posting:_

**Kanashii Wolf** - You know, I started to write your name as "Kakashi". You know you've spent too much time reading/watching/writing Naruto when... _(chuckles)_ Actually, many thanks for the idea. I didn't have any idea how I was going to match the two worlds up, but your 'haywire imagination' was very helpful. _(bows in appreciation)_ There's no real fun with Hunter-nin Harry-Haku here ((yet)), but it will come soon. Can you imagine Ron's response? ((...why did I want to write Rock there? Aiyah... --;;))

**Kaaera** - Read/watch more Naruto. Wonderful, wonderful show. I have 97 episodes, but because of the number of times I had to watch episodes 18 and 19, I only got to episode 29 last night. Stupid Hebi-teme...

**Black myst** - _(nodnodnod)_ So sad, so sad. _(sniffles)_ Whenever I think about it... stupid Gattou, getting them killed before Zabuza-san could accomplish his dream. shakes angry fist at annoying mafia-like boss Hehe, I knew the "eyes like mine" scene would make a bunch of people go "Wait a second... NARUTO! YAY!"

**allieycosta** - Glad you like it. Hehehe, it says "naruto crossover" in the authors notes at the top, but I should probably put it in the description, non? I'll do that now

**maleficus-lupus** - Why thankyou, I do so love getting compliments... hehe, genius... I haven't found very many HP/Naruto crossovers, and I haven't liked any of the ones I have found, so I don't have them bookmarked or remember their titles... sorry.

**Akua** - Continuing was the plan. And look! Here's part two!

**blulily07** - Well, hopefully, things will become clearer as time goes on for you. Or you download the Naruto episodes through bittorrent. You only have to download the first twenty episodes or so if you want to find out the Haku/Zabuza story. But by that point, you'll be hooked and want the rest of them. _(grins)_


	3. chapter 03

_Coach said to fake right, and break left..._

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 1, Chapter 3  
The Itch

* * *

"I didn't give you that just so that you could watch those kids' lives like they were some bad muggle soap opera."

Zabuza's voice came to him from outside the bathroom, and Haku flushed guiltily as he looked away from the mirror shard that he had been using to watch Sakura and some blond girl fight it out. According to Zabuza the shard had once been part of a full length mirror that had belonged to his adoptive mother. It had been Zabuza's first look into the world of taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, as the mirror had traveled with Moemi's family from Japan to English many generations earlier, when Japan first opened her borders to the rest of the world.

To say that it was a special mirror was to understate its abilities and importance. It had been one of the few artifacts that had been capable of piercing the veil of magic that hid the Japanese colonies in China from their host country. Of course, over the few hundred years since the creation of those colonies, alongside the fact that they had been forgotten, the people of the ninja villages in China looked very little like their Japanese ancestors.

Zabuza had given Haku the mirror shard all those long years ago when he had first needed to cross the border into that other world. It was one of six shards that Zabuza had carried with him from his own childhood, and Haku had been honored to be given the piece. Unfortunately, the honor of having such a relic of his master's past was quickly drowned out by the particular downsides involved with crossing the veil; every time he had passed through one of the few remaining gates, he had to use all his will not to scream. The realigning of one's body to the "normal world" was... painful, to say the very least. The world that he and Zabuza-san had lived in for so many years existed between the "mortal world' and the "demon world". On this plane half way between worlds, demons and mortals could cohabit, although humans weren't able to pass through into the demon world, and demons could not pass through into the mortal world.

It was a perilous balance that those ancient Japanese had discovered, and it was simply amazing that the ninja had managed to adapt and then to live and thrive for so long. Haku couldn't help but be curious about their continued survival, and every time that he had been outside of the "Middle World" he had pulled out the magical mirror shard to peak in on those that he knew.

He had spent a great deal of time on the trip from the Gate they had used in Wave Country to his arrival at Hogwarts peaking in on Naruto-kun. Most of it had just been the normal training and d-ranked missions that any genin was tasked with, although the beginning of the chuunin exam had certainly been an interesting event.

Haku tucked the mirror into his gi top, and made a promise to himself that he would check in on Sakura after his bath. He had grown fond of watching Team Seven's interactions; while it was not something that he was personally familiar with, he derived great pleasure from seeing how easily those three genin meshed together. Sometimes his heart ached as he wished for his own team, but that was a decision for Zabuza-san to make, and so far Haku was the only person that the older missing-nin felt comfortable enough around to keep him around.

It was for connections and teams like Team Seven had he and Zabuza-san fought; they were striving for a dream to keep relationships like that whole and not fractured, like the twisted messes that they had been forced to grow up a part of.

Shaking his head free of such heavy thoughts, Haku finished pulling off his clothing and folding it neatly on the counter beside the bath. His hitae-ate was folded ever so carefully on top of it, and his mask leant against the mirror. Due to certain... issues... with the talking mirror, Haku had found himself forced to cover it with ice. While he didn't mind that people tended to think he was a girl upon first meeting him, as allowing opponents to think that tended to give him certain advantages over them, it was the fact that the mirror had been insulting him while doing it. If Haku had one vanity of his own, it was his hair. If that made him look feminine, well he certainly didn't care but to be insulted for it...!

Carefully, the ninja removed the contact lenses from his eyes, and was momentarily dizzied by the sudden blurriness of the world. It took a few moments, but his eyes started refocus, and while the world wasn't exactly clear, he was capable of making out general shapes. The brown lenses were set down besides his clothing, and he settled himself into the bath with a delighted moan. It had been too long since he had been able to wash in warm water. As he sunk down beneath the surface of the water, he smiled to himself. This was so relaxing...

Or at least it was until he lunged up out of the water to capture the arm of the small, shaking creature that had been about to take his clothing. His soaping wet hair clung to his face and neck, and presented a most frightening visage to the tiny house-elf. It gave a terrified little squeak before beginning to stutter its apologies, and Haku let go of its arm with a grunt.

"Leave my belongings alone," the ninja growled without heat. "There are dangerous things in them, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

The house elf managed to stutter an agreement as well as a few more apologies before disappearing with a small "pop!" Haku exhaled heavily, and picked up a bar of soap. He had a mishmash of blood, sweat, tears and mud to get off of his body. There went his relaxed mood.

* * *

When he finally came out of the bathing room, he found himself under the watchful gazes of a few more people than he had been expecting. At some point, it appeared that Dumbledore as well as a man and a woman he didn't know had decided to drop by. Zabuza-san was in the room as well, lounging on the couch with his cleaver in easy reach as always. Blinking, Haku stopped toweling his hair dry only long enough to conjure a senbon out of ice, transfigure it into metal, and then pin the towel around his waist shut. At that point, he returned to drying out his hair. "May I help you?"

"He looks so much like his mother...!" the unknown woman was gaping at him. Haku ignored the comment and focused his attention on the Headmaster.

"Harry," Albus began, and Haku shot him a rather sharp look. It had been a very long time since he had gone by that name, but the Headmaster tactfully ignored the look. "This is Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall, the heads of Slytherin and Gryffindor respectively."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Professors," Haku tipped his head in greeting before carefully folding the towel that he had been using on his hair. He didn't bother making any excuses and getting changed, instead moving to seat himself on the couch arm beside Zabuza's head.

"They want to know how much magic you know," Zabuza looked up at his young companion. "To see where you are in the curriculum."

"Indeed," Albus smiled a twinkle in his eyes. "Although, since you have not been formally trained you might be forced to join one of the younger years."

"Understandable," Haku nodded as he readjusted his towel and the needle into a more comfortable position. Snape raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Most boys your age would be horrified by being places with those younger than he." The snide tone with which the words had been delivered did nothing to endear the man to the former hunter-nin.

"I learn quickly," Haku's voice was flat and dry. "And I distinctly remember being the youngest member of the Hidden Mist Hunter-nin. Being older than my peers would be a nice change." He and Snape stared at each other for a long tense moment before Snape snorted and looked away. Albus looked between the two men in confusion for a moment, while McGonagall muttered something that suspiciously sounded like "men!"

"Well, if you would come with us then, Harry?"

"Now?" He had thought that they would wait a day or two. His eyes flickered to Zabuza, and the man shrugged. He didn't really understand how these Wizards worked; he hadn't been a member of that particular culture group in nearly two decades. How was he supposed to know if this was normal for student testing?

Albus also caught the look between the men, but he misinterpreted it as Haku asking permission to go, and he resolved to break Harry of that particular habit. The old man's eyes were twinkling with amusement when Haku turned back to look at him. "Well, we'll let you get dressed first, of course. It wouldn't be proper to have you running about Hogwarts in the nude, now would it?" Although... Albus could remember a certain _other_ Potter who had done just that on a dare. No one had been more surprised that Lily had actually gone and done it than her then-future husband, the man who dared her to in the first place.

"Of course," Haku rose from his seat and strode towards his room for a new change of clothing. It was the exact same outfit that he had been wearing before, although this time instead of the browns and greens needed to camouflage himself in the forests of Wave, it was in grays and muddy-browns of stone. A return of to the bathroom netted him his hitae-ate and his mask, as well as all of the senbon that had been left in his clothing. It certainly wouldn't do to be caught unawares and without his weaponry, he mused, tucking it all away.

Hogwarts might be safe against Wizards, but there were things that were a lot more dangerous out there than Wizards.

That much he had learned the hard way.

* * *

**E**nd Part Three

... no I don't know why I had to have Haku in the bath. Only that the thought of him running around bare-chested makes me giggly.

And if anyone cares, the way Haku-Harry looked when he caught the house-elf... well; think about Orochimaru for a minute or two. Then consider Haku looking like he does. It's a damn creepy image, even without the tongue from hell.

**original word count:** 1556  
**revision word count: **1808**  
**

* * *

_review responses are from the original posting:_

**Zosa!** Long time no talk! Glad to see you like the new story I'm having a blast writing it, hehe. I'm one of your absolute favs? Gee, I knew you liked me, but I didn't know it was that much!

**Akua** - Harry is fifteen, sorry if that wasn't very clear. It's 1995/fifth year, and Sirius... you'll find out in part four or five. I have plans for that dog! Heh, remember what Kakashi summoned to help him fight Zabuza-san...? Heh heh heh. As for Hermione and Ron... hmm, dunno yet. Some events ((like the Tri-Wizard and Quirrelmort)) would have occured whether or not Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. Those events happened. Other events, dependent on Harry... didn't. At least, not yet. Heh. And just for your love of Zabuza and Haku... fanservice in this chapter! ...well, Zabuza is always fanservice. Haku fanservice, I mean.

**Kaaera** - Hehe, that's certainly one way to do it. Lord knows, that's how I learned of Ranma and Furuba before I bought the Ranma manga and stole the furuba subs off a friend... Crossovers are really intriguing things. Of course, crossovers lead into reading a proper fanfic, and I shall now direct you towards Sunfreak. Sunfreak may not write cannon stuff, but the characters are at least in character.

**Black myst** - I'm glad you like it; I try to make things so that they at least make sense, so that even if parts of it are... choppy, then at least it doesn't have people scratching their heads in wonder. Itachi... _(chuckles) _sore wa himitsu desu. On a slightly related note, I live with someone who looks like a short-haired Itachi. It's kinda creepy. No, Dumbledore is not aware of ninjutsu or genjutsu. Haku doesn't strike me as a character who 'hates' without reason. He didn't even seem to hate Gattou-- he was just over protective of Zabuza-san. I hope that my explaination of the "ninjas in china" thing makes more sense this chapter-- I kinda glossed over it before...

**maleficus-lupus** - Really? That's interesting. I try to respond to most of my reviewers, although sometimes I miss one or two. Yeah, I watch the Naruto anime. S'really cool; anbuDOM puts out a new episode every week or so ((although, recently, that hasn't happened since anbuDOM and AnimeONE split for various reasons)). Ah, you make me blush with your compliments!

**Kanashii Wolf** - A senbon... those are the needles that Haku uses. Chakra is the energy of the body mixed with the energy of the outside world-- which is why a ninja can be stronger than a wizard. No, the geography of China and Naruto-world don't match up, but I'm hoping that I explained it better in this chapter than I did in the last. Sorry that that was confusing! My Haku-fanservice in this chapter answered your questions about Haku... well, some of them. hehe

**Mayhem El-Diablo** - Naruto is an anime/manga by Kishimoto Masashi, and is about the life of the twelve year old ninja-rookie ((genin)) Uzumaki Naruto. Parts of it are cute, parts of it are funny, and parts of it are heartbreaking. It's wonderfully done; you should look into checking it out. Haku is one of the earlier characters, with a tragic history; I have yet to actually meet anyone who's a fan of Naruto who doesn't like Haku.


	4. chapter 04

**Irihi Safaia** - _=nods=_ Writers block is evil. Evil, evil, evil. Hopefuly though, this lovely little story will help me get over the troubles I'm having with BS... I do so enjoy writing this one... look, four updates in four days! It's a miracle! hehe 

**Kaaera** - And here's the next update Geez, s'been a long time since I read any GW fics. I wonder if Miko no da is still writing... eh, anyways, have fun looking up Gundam stuff, and I'll be happy to be your fount of Naruto knowledge for the time being 

**Black myst** - Yeah, Harry-Haku and Zabuza will-- eventually-- do some ninjutsu. Right at the moment, though, they're still settling in and trying to figure out what the hell they're to do now. After that... well, Zabuza-san has plans, you see. Heh. As for Albus hurting Zabuza-san... at the moment, it's kind of obvious that Haku is protective of Zabuza-- the only thing Albus is going to do is try and use words and actions to pull Haku away from Zabuza. Not that it's going to actually _/work/_, but hey, this is Albus. He has to try, you know? It will certainly irritate Haku, who's mindset has been that he is a weapon of Zabuza to use for a decade or so now. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, so don't worry about that. S'too much fun, and I have too many ideas! 

**Zosa** - _=grins=_ Hey, I'm a firm supporter of Orochimaru but it is kinda freaky how he can use his tongue to lift people up, and STILL talk through it. Hehe, nin-dog Sirius! Can you imagine the looks of shock should Sirius be summoned while with Haku? After all, everyone _/knows/_ Haku is dead... heh. I haven't read the manga in awhile ((...before Shonen Jump started running it, to be honest)) so I should probably catch up. Your slurping noises have now made me imagine you with Orochimaru's tongue. I don't even know what you look like, just that my mental image of you now includes his tongue. Kinda freaky that. As for a fight in the Great Hall with Snape and/or Ron... maybe. You'll just have to wait and see. Same goes with Harry-Haku and a snake. ((Can you just imagine if Haku and Orochimaru had met? The poor snake wouldn't know who to follow!)) Did you have fun with school, Zosa? Me, I've been graduated for awhile now, so no school for me. Several interviews ((I got fired from my last job. hmph.)) today, but I get to escape the boredom of schooling. Ha HA! I am so proud! Hehehe, your poems sound kinda like rap songs 

**Mayhem El-Diablo** - The reason behind only Sev and Min being there are explained in this chapter. Yay for manga! It's too bad they didn't have any Naruto or Shaman King volumes when I went to comickazi yesterday. I'll have to go all the way to Kensington, and there's never any parking down there! It's depressing, but the things I so for my manga... heh 

**Xyverz** - Yeah, it's a crossover. Sorry that it doesn't make much sense-- I only labeled it as a crossover on part one... It's a crossover with Naruto, a manga/anime about a 12-year old ninja and his life. Haku is his first real opponent; and now I've turned Harry into Haku. I'm glad you're still reading it, even though it confuses you. Hopefully, it'll get all untangled for you soon 

**Akua** - Soon it is! Four chapters in four days. That's gotta be a record for me. As for Remus... hmm, perhaps. Haku is already having issues with both Snape and McGonagall, which is tremendously amusing to me. Dumbledore doesn't seem to realise how devoted to Zabuza Haku is, does he? Hehehehehe. 

**Kanashii Wolf** - Yay for understanding! No problem with the explaining. The veil... hmm, perhaps. I adore Haku's hair. Haku adores Haku's hair, as you discover in this chapter. He's so amusing sometimes. Yeah, they probably did see his muscles but probably went along the lines of-- for McGonagall-- "he's a teenaged boy. He's probably been doing sports and the like" and "He's probably got a lot of running done being with a murderer like Lestrange," from Snape and Dumbledore. Yeah, the chapters are a bit short right now, but I'm just setting things up for the 'action and adventure' part of it. When things pick up, the chapters should get longer 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Four  
The Itch

* * *

They'd decided to preform the tests in an unused classroom, and Haku had barely resisted the urge to clean the room of the inch think layer of dust that had gathered in it. It was apalling, but liveable, as they would only be in the classroom for a short while-- there would only be two tests done today. One for transfiguration and one for potion making-- the classes taught by the two heads of houses brought to him.

Albus had explained, on their way to the classroom, that the other two house heads were busy dealing with a pair of students who had thought it would be funny to charm the Great Hall to snow in accordance to the weather outside. Haku had wondered at the purpose of such a charm, before reasoning that it could be used to create a localized snowstorm to blind one's enemies. 

Outside of Zabuza-san, Haku's life revolved around getting stronger, faster, and better. He didn't like the feeling of being useless, something that only Naruto had made him feel in recent months. Looking back on his reaction then, he couldn't help but wince. 

That had been... rather melodramatic. Maybe his hair was making him act more like a girl...? 

Nah, his hair wouldn't do that to him. 

"Now Harry," McGonagall was saying, "As I saw that little trick of yours to turn the ice into metal, I'm assuming that you've had some training in transfiguration." 

"Some," Haku agreed, slightly exaspirated by the use of his birthname. No matter how many times he'd told them on the way to this classroom that it was /dangerous/ to use that name, they all insisted on it. He was nearing the point where he wanted to bang his head into a wall. Some people... 

"Good, good," the woman smiled at him, setting a match down on the table, "Transfigure this into a needle-- a sewing needle." 

Picking up the match, he rolled it between his fingers, and in a moment, he had the silver needle in hand, "How's that?" 

"You... you did that without a wand!" McGonagall sounded absolutely stunned. Haku blinked in confusion. 

"Why would I need a wand, Professor?" All it was was an application of mana, directed by chakra and the image in one's mind. A simple thing to do. 

"Perhaps you're just used to needles," the woman half-stuttered. That had to be it-- Harry /had/ seemed awfully fond of the few needles he'd been playing with on their little walk to the classroom. This time, she set a mitten before him, "Turn this into a kitten." 

"A... kitten?" Okay, he didn't really see the point in that one. 

"Yes, a kitten. Take out your wand and use it like this," she demonstrated, turning the mitten into a kitten, and then back again. Haku frowned, suddenly wishing for a Sharingan eye-- even just one would have helped him see how the chakra was guiding the magic. 

Still... he pulled out one of his senbon and proceeded to wave it at the mitten like McGonagall had, focusing on a turning it into a cat. 

No kitten, but that was a really nice set of tiger-claws. Haku let McGonagall reverse the transformation, and he tried again. 

Knife. 

Dagger. 

Set of senbon plus holster. 

Kunai. 

Shinobi-gatana. 

Wakazashi. 

Kodachi. 

Scimitar. 

Sickle. 

Kwan Dao blade. 

The list went on and on, but there was no kitten from a mitten. Haku stared at the woolen mitten with scowl. Why wouldn't it change into what it was supposed to?! 

McGonagall sighed, still looking slightly unnerved by the large number of weapons Haku had created, as she picked up the mitten, "I suppose we will have to work on transfiguring things into items other than muggle weaponry." 

"And get him a proper wand," Albus mused, "I'm surprised that needle could even channel the magic." 

Haku was about to respond that it wasn't really the senbon that was 'channelling' the magic, before stopping. Hadn't Zabuza-san told him that Wizards didn't know about chakra-- or, at least, didn't remember it? Enlightening these people, kind though they may be, might just cause problems later on. It would be best to keep that to himself for the time being. 

"Yes well," Snape scowled, "He doesn't need a wand for potions. Potter!" 

"Professor," Haku tipped his head in the man's direction. 

"Have you ever made a potion, boy?" 

"No sir," and Haku did not like the look of pure glee on the Professor's face. He had a sinking feeling about this... 

* * *

His 'sinking feeling' had been right on the money. Severus Snape was a sadistic taskmaster, having set Haku onto a spell that most fifth years had problems with. Albus had apparently seen it coming, and had promptly ushered McGonagall out of the room before she could interfere with Snape's plans.

Haku blew up three cauldrons trying to make that potion. They instructions had been written in tiny, cramped letters, pale on pale parchment; and Haku, who had been reading reports and technique scrolls in nice, clean japanese, for so many years, found the english words hard to make out. Oh, sure, he could read english-- but when the letters were so smushed together that he was sure no native english-speaker would have ben able to understand it, he had as much trouble as the average native asian. 

By the time he'd finished, Haku only had an hour before the Christmas Feast, and his clothing was splattered with potions goop. He still hadn't made the potion properly-- Snape was just getting tired of sniping at him, it seemed. So Haku trudged back to his room with Zabuza-san, wondering if the other tests would be just as hard and annoying. He sincerely hoped not. 

"Haku, get your mutt off of me," came Zabuza's waspish voice as he entered the small room with a normal muggle door. Those portrait doors were unnerving. Doors did /not/ need to talk to you. 

The scene within was a terribly amusing, and surprisingly familiar one-- Zabuza-san pinned to the couch with a large black dog laying across his chest, arm firmly held within powerful jaws. Around the dog's neck was the oh-so-familiar Konoha hitae-ate of Hatake Kakashi's nin-dogs. 

It had been quite the surprise, the first time the scruffy-looking dog had bounded out of the darkness to tackle Zabuza. Both Haku and Zabuza had feared that Kakashi had learned of their deception and had sent out his hunter dogs to track them down-- and that somehow the dog had crossed the bordered into the mortal world. They still didn't know how the dog managed to by-pass the barrier that kept the two realms out of phase, but they did know that the dog seemed to have an unhealthy interest in Haku. 

One that was on the lines of being an over-protective parent. 

"C'mon Scarecrow," Haku laughed, tugging the dog's hitae-ate, "Stop bothering Zabuza-san, and I'll get you some real food." Scarecrow-- named for Kakashi, of course-- let go of Momochi's arm to jump up on Haku. The ninja scratched the head of the over-sized beast, before shoving him off and heading towards his room again, "Do you think they would let me take Scarecrow to dinner with us, Zabuza-san?" 

"Probably not," the missing-nin folded his hands behind his head, "How'd you manage to spill neon green goop down yourself?" 

"A potion blew up," the fifteen year old sighed, stripping off his over-gi top, and picking up a haori. They were going to a feast, he might as well look presentable. The haori was nice, but not something he wore regularly; a missing-nin had little need of social functions, though Haku kept it 'just in case'. 

With a soft laugh, Haku pulled his hair out of it's customary bun and picked up his kimono, "What do you think, Zabuza-san?" 

"Haku, I really don't think the Headmaster will be terribly pleased to see you wearing pink," his companion's voice was deadpan, though he did chuckle, "Go for it." 

The boy's eyes danced as he slipped into the soft pink kimono, and the white haori, before fussing with his hair before one of his ice mirrors. Zabuza rolled his eyes. 

"Oh stop primping already; I'm sure you'll have to tell at least four people that you're a boy." A senbon whizzed past his ear, causing the demon of the mist to laugh loudly, and Haku just smiled. It was nice to see Zabuza-san in high spirits again. The past few years had been rough on the jounin, and to see him relax was a miracle in and of itself. 

Although... ninja had a different meaning of 'relaxed' than normal people-- Zabuza still carried his Cleaver with him everywhere. Which brought up an interesting question, "Will you be bringing it to dinner?" 

"Hmm?" 

"The Cleaver," Haku clarified, stepping back into the main room while adjusting his obi. Zabuza had to chuckle at the sight of his protege in his kimono. Was it any wonder that so many people thought that he was a woman? With his hair pinned up so efficently with his senbon, and face putty carefully smeared over his far to recogniseable scar, Haku looked like nothing else but a proper woman of one of the shinobi villages. 

"It rarely leaves my side," Momochi was stating the obvious, "So yes." 

"Very well. Should I wrap it?" 

"No, leave it. The kiddies will have to get used to it sooner or later." 

"Indeed," Haku mused with a smile. He turned to Scarecrow, who had-- as always-- followed Haku around the room, just one step behind him, "Sorry my friend, but you'll have to stay here for dinner. Zabuza-san will be causing enough problems by taking the Cleaver with him; we don't need to compound them by having a dog with us." 

Scarecrow whined, and Haku ruffled his fur, "Don't worry, I'll bring you back something good." 

When both Zabuza and Haku had left the room, Scarecrow's entire body shivered, before shifting into that of a scruffy-looking man. Sirius Black frowned at the door, before turning back towards the other entrance he'd used to get in in the first place. No way was he going to let his godson go off alone where he couldn't be protected-- especially not after having believed the man who's rescued him from Azkaban had killed the boy! 

He didn't want to lose Harry-- no, Haku-- again. 

* * *

End Part Four 

Yesh, there is a story behind Kakashi and Sirius' partnership and the "rescued him from Azkaban" line. It'll come up when Zabuza and Haku learn that Scarecrow and Sirius are the same person. When that will be... hehe, I'm not telling! 

And if anyone cares, I do have a yahoo!group accessable to people other than those over 18 ((which the group for BS happens to be...)) S'called itchfanfic. There's a link in my profile. Huzzah.


	5. chapter 05

**Ran** - Aye aye... I looked over at lupinenight2. I'll respond later. Have job hunting to do today. Haku as Harry, Harry as Haku, you decide. I call him Harry-Haku!

**Stratagemini** - Yay for interest. And quite frankly, Strata... you're Stratagemini. Of course you're going to like the weapons part. =_rolls her eyes_=

**Black myst** - Actually, both males and females wear kimono-- mens kimono are usually in dark blue, grey, or black. Of course, a man wouldn't wear kimono with furisode! ((Furisode being those long sleeves, used to tell people whether the woman is single or married, depending on length)) A yukata is a kimono made of lighter fabrics, and without the juban-- the white "slip" beneath the kimono-- although many japanese women prefer to wear the eri-sugata collar, since it's lighter, cooler, and still looks formal The idea was that Haku was being very girlish, and figured that it would be best to "go formal" for the feast. The obi he's wearing is the smaller men's obi, although he wears it like a woman's obi. Only Haku... =_grin_= Actually, I am on already. I'm just super lazy! Lazier than Shikamaru! Because _/I/_ would have never become a chuunin... hehe. Writers block? On this? NEVER! Or, at least, I hope never. Sure, you can do fan art for this fic. And sorry about the blathering about kimono and yukata. I've been trying to buy one since the Lilac Festival. Don't have the money for it, though.

**Zosa** - Yes you, you creepy hebi-teme loving freak. =_pauses_= Wait... I can't really say that, can I? I love the freak, too! Argh! I feel like Sasuke-- I know he's evil and bad and I really shouldn't follow him, but dammit, he's just so cool and powerful! =pouts= Stupid Oreo-sama. Sirius the Ninja Dog will be so much fun to muck around with. Hehe... and stupid with the mental images already! First I had the faceless you licking Haku, and now I'm seeing Orochimaru lick him. It's kinda disturbing. It's also a plot idea. hmmhmmhmm hehehehe HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! You got stuck with one of your dad's old friends in a class? Ouch, that sucks. Especially when they hit on you. =_shudders_= Thank the lord the last time I saw _/my/_ father's old friends, they were too drunk to know I was there. Just pray that Orochimaru will summon a snake to eat him, and then can save you with his tongue. Or maybe Haku will come back from the dead to save you. Best way to distract yourself, I say. Yeah... I got fired, cause apparently I wasn't "cheerful enough". And then I found out from my cousin ((who still works there)) that the store is closing down. Couldn't they have just told me the truth?! Yay for writing songs! I used to, but then I realised I didn't have any musical talent, and decided to write fanfics. I'm sure they'll realise that calling him Harry is wrong the first time Sirius jumps someone. Heh. ...dude, you always get the longest responses. Maybe I should learn to put yours last so I can put paragraph breaks in...

**maleficus-lupus** - Yeah, that final sentence needs to be fixed. Lucky me, that's pretty easy to do

**Kaaera** - heh, Haku's a ninja. What's he need to know how to transfigure a mitten into a kitten? He did well enough transfiguring a girder into a dead body. He thought that was top of the top. _=snickers=_

**Irihi Safaia** - More is here

**Akua** - Ron is Ron. He's a prat. Therefore, I do believe I have characterized him well enough... of course, without Harry there to be his best friend, he might be a little more... fixated... on Harry Potter. Or maybe it's just... being Harry Potter. Ron's weird like that.

**Mayhem El-Diablo** - Sorry, I was babbling to myself, Kensington is a small area of my dear old city of Calgary, in cheerful Alberta Canada. It's the "artsy" area-- it's got all sorts of weird shops. There's a tattoo place across from the comic store. Nice place though, filled will all sorts of neat odds and ends. Like Darth Vader. The comic store, I mean. A tattoo place wouldn't need a Darth Vader. _=grins=_ Naw, don't shut up. Ideas are fun. And Harry's just kinda twitchy about his name. Which will be cause for great amusement in days to come. Haku in a kimono is always a lovely image. The pink yukata he wore in the show was cute, but the kimono is cuter in a formal sort of way. hehe.

**Kanashii Wolf** - Haku's love for his hair is par only to his devotion to Zabuza. Thanks to you, my msn name reads as "Oreo-sama!" "OroCHI! Not Oreo! And don't forget the 'maru'!" Such an amusing image in my head. My poor Sound-nin is so going to get her arse kicked. I don't know what it was about that scene that amused so many people, but I'll take your word for the giggling being scary thing. I made some spelling mistakes near the end there. I should really fix it. Sirius meant that he'd been one of the dogs that had been there when Zabuza and Kakashi fought, and had "seen" Haku die. Now, recognising Haku's scent as similar to James' would have freaked Sirius out. He'd just seen/helped his godson get killed. When he found Haku again, he refused to let the boy out of his sight. Yeah, I need to fix that...

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Five  
The Itch?

* * *

Pink suited him surprisingly well, Albus found himself musing, although the thought disturbed him, when Momochi and Potter entered the Great Hall. It was empty of the majority of the students, and even a percentage of the staff, so there were fewer surprised by the weapon-totting man and his "pretty daughter". Either neither man heard the comments, or they were just plain ignoring them as they made their way across the Great Hall.

The only word that Albus could find to justify the way that young Harry moved as 'gliding'. His movements were minimal, and yet he covered the large distance between Hall doors and the Head table remarkably quickly. Zabuza walked in the same fashion, but where Harry's pink... robe... gave him an appearance of beauty, Zabuza's camouflage pants and the massive sword strapped to his back lent him the image of someone you did not wish to piss off.

"Ah, yes, it's good to see that you're on time Rodr--"

"Zabuza," the man corrected with a scowl, "I haven't gone by _/that/_ name in nearly twenty years, headmaster, I'll not start now."

"...Indeed," the old man smiled, though it did not reach his eyes, "Well, I suppose we should introduce you to those students that are here for the holidays."

"Do as you wish," Momochi looked... bored. Harry stood at his side, quite comfortable with the situation at hand. Albus stared at the boy for a long moment, before he turned his attention to the rest of the hall.

"Everyone, we have some very special guests with us this Christmas. Please welcome Zabuza Momochi and Harry Potter," Albus ignored Haku's wince and cold stare. The boy would just have to get used to being called by his birth name.

"Ha!" the bark of laughter had come from fifth year Gryffindor Ronald Weasley, "Everyone knows Harry Potter is male, and that is no male!"

"I assure you," Haku's voice was frosty, and the entire room jumped as Haku vanished from where he had stood before Albus. When he reappeared, not even a second later, he was crouched on the banquet table in front of the redheaded boy, "That I am most certainly male." He had removed the obi in a flash of movement, letting the kimono fall open as far as the under-belt would allow it to-- enough that all could tell that his chest was both muscular and very male.

Then he had hopped off the table and was refastening his obi, with sharp, efficient movements. Only Ron, who he still stood in front of, noticed the senbon strapped to the inside of Haku's wrist. Once satisfied with his appearance, the fifteen year old swept his gaze across the room, cool brown eyes flickering across the various faces.

Albus cleared his throat, "Well, Harry, we should probably get you sorted."

"Sorted?" Haku frowned, "And my name is Haku, Headmaster."

"Sorted into one of the four Houses," Albus ignored the other part of his comment, "You remember what I told you of them."

Haku nodded slowly-- yes, he did. Though he didn't quite see the need for the competition between the Houses of Hogwarts. It wasn't like the competition and wars between the Hidden Villages-- who fought because there was a limited amount of clients, and over powerful techniques and clans. Competition of grads was fine, but this seemed to have been taken to the extreme.

Momochi snorted, "Get on with it then."

"Yes, yes of course," Albus smiled gently at the tall man, but he was ignored. Sighing, the Headmaster wondered how Harry could be so attached to someone like Rodrick Lestrange. That man seemed so... Slytherin. And while the Headmaster might not be as biased towards Slytherin as others in the school, he still held some bias against them. It wasn't worth the risk to trust a Slytherin until they had proved their good intentions.

When Minvera had pulled the ratty hat out, Haku could only just stare at it. When it opened it's "mouth", Haku had to wince. Not exactly something he wanted anywhere near him, but he had agreed to this. Well, it was more like he had poked and prodded at Zabuza to let him check this school out. It wasn't anything like he had thought it would be, so far, but he held hope that it was just because it was the holidays.

The hat was placed on his head, and Haku frowned at the uncomfortable sensation of a tendril of combined mana and chakra flicking through his mind. He did his best to block out the chakra-- he didn't know what kind of damage it could do to him, but he wasn't willing to find out.

The hat laughed in his ear, "My my, it seems that you know a few more tricks than anyone else your age."

"It is all a matter of _jutsu_," Haku returned calmly in Japanese.

The hat laughed again, "Well, from what I saw, you certainly have a lot of bravery to throw yourself in front of Zabuza like that, and you certainly have a great deal of knowledge and cunning to have been able to come up with such a scheme to get the both of you out of that situation, and to have actually pulled it off."

"Anything for Zabuza-san," Haku smiled, "My ambition is to help him achieve his dream."

"A worthy goal," though the hat didn't know what Zabuza's dream was-- Haku had managed to shield his mind with pure chakra before that point, "And I know just where I can put you. The house of the loyal-- HUFFLEPUFF!"

* * *

Silence had descended upon the Great Hall when Haku's house was announced. Both students and teachers stared between one another in shock-- Hufflepuff? The Potters had been Gryffindors as far back as anyone could remember; there had _/never/_ been a deviation. And yet, here was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, in another House.

All Albus could think was 'thank Merlin it wasn't Slytherin.'

Still, he wouldn't be able to keep a close enough eye on Harry in Hufflepuff; as a former Gryffindor himself, Albus was able to 'look in' on any Gryffindor while in the Headmaster's Office. It was just a little thing that had been cooked up by Rowena Ravenclaw, so that a Headmaster could only see his own kind. It wouldn't do for a Slytherin to be looking in on a Gryffindor, and begin plotting, nor would it do for a Hufflepuff to be able to see the back-stabbing common between the other houses. Their loyalties would be horribly stretched.

He watched as Haku drifted towards the two Hufflepuff seventh years that had remained behind, Zabuza walking in step with him. That was another thing-- it would be much harder to watch Zabuza. It had been hard when Dumbledore had assumed Harry would be a Gryffindor. It was doubly so now, and Albus had to wonder just how the hell he was going to get Harry away from the Lestrange, when the boy had been placed into the one house where loyalty was valued above all else.

This... could be a problem.

* * *

Sirius, on the other hand, was doing the doggy equivalent of laughing his ass off. Oh that was rich, watching the stunned looks going across the faces of everyone in the Great Hall from his secret hiding place. He'd figured that his godson would either end up in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, simply because of who he was. But then, Sirius had also spent a great deal of time with his godson-- Zabuza being the only person to have ever spent more time with the boy. Through being Haku's "pet" Sirius had learned so much more about the boy than he ever thought there could be.

He had been half expecting a male clone of Lily when he'd first seen Haku on the Great Naruto Bridge; but Lily had been a pacifist at heart, sweet and kind, but warm and friendly. Haku was... well, Haku. He was calm and collected, a true ninja, even if he occasionally let his heart get involved. He could be icy cold, but still smiling, a protector and a weapon.

Sirius grinned a great doggy grin, before he headed back towards the kitchens. He was hungry, and Haku was capable of taking care of himself for a few minutes. Besides, Zabuza was there.

And Zabuza cared for Haku more than he liked to admit.

* * *

"Harry Potter?"

"Haku," he corrected tiredly, looking up to find himself staring the redhead from before in the face. Haku didn't so much as blink at having his personal space invaded, instead pushing his chair back slightly, "Can I help you...?"

"Ron Weasley," the Gryffindor crossed his arms and stared the other boy down, "You can't possibly be Harry Potter!"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, first off, Harry has a _/scar/._"

Haku looked amused, "I have many scars, Ron. Was there a particular place you had in mind?"

Ron scowled at him, "On his forehead. It was a curse scar, and everyone knows you can't hide a curse scar!"

"It's amazing what make-up can do, isn't it?" Haku twirled his chopsticks around his fingers rather absently. It was just something he did when bored. And right now, he was bored out of his mind. Zabuza-san was still eating, but he'd stopped when people started coming to him with questions.

Lots and lots of questions.

"I don't believe you're Harry Potter at all!"

"Believe what you wish," Haku smiled politely. Ron pointed a shaking finger at the ninja.

"I'm going to expose you for the fake you are, Haku! When I'm through, there's no way in hell that anyone will believe that _/you/_ are the Boy-Who-Lived."

"That's nice," Haku was actually quite amused by the shades of red the at Weasley's face was turning. The poor boy might suffocate if he didn't breath soon... Haku lifted up a glass of water, "Water?"

Weasley scowled mightily, before stomping away. Haku shrugged and put the glass back down, turning to his twirling of the chopsticks. This was very, very, very bor--

"Let's go," Zabuza stood up, hand on his Cleaver's handle. There were a few yelps as the man swung the weapon up and onto his back, while Haku slipped the chopsticks into the bag at his hip. No sense in leaving them behind-- he didn't know if he'd see them again. He wasn't quite used to western eating utensils yet.

The journey back to their room was done in silence-- at least, it was until Scarecrow came racing through the hall and slammed headlong into Haku. The ninja reacted as he was trained to do, bouncing backwards for a meter or so, on the balls of his feet. Scarecrow was on his hind legs, forelegs draped over Haku's shoulders, and he promptly licked the poor Potter right up the center of his face. Coughing slightly at Scarecrow's dog breath, Haku dropped the massive dog onto the ground, "Whatever I had on my face, did not need to be licked off like that, Scarecrow."

The dog grinned up at him, eyes twinkling with amusement, and Haku shook his head with a sigh, ignoring Zabuza's snickering, "Nin-dogs..."

* * *

End Part Five

And Ron makes his first appearance.

...and I know everyone ((who isn't a fan of Haku, at least)) is going "what the hell are you on!?" as to my deciding to stick Har-ku ((...)) into Hufflepuff. Let me just say that all will be made clear. Eventually.

Just like Kabuto will eventually be proclaimed the ultimate bad guy of Naruto. Yay Kabuto! _=waves a Kabuto-flag=_


	6. chapter 06

**Zosa** - Response is at bottom, even though your review was the most recent. 

**Ran** - Like I said in the authors notes at the bottom-- non-fans/people who know next to nothing about Haku might not understand why the boy ((_...I feel so old, calling someone a 'boy'_)) ended up in Hufflepuff. But I did have that scene in my head as I was writing it-- and that was also the scene the Hat saw, upon which to base his decision. Hehe. Disliking Haku is... practically impossible. I've said it before, and I'll say it again-- I've never met someone who didn't like Haku. Naruto is damned cool too. There is a reason why I have him on my belt ((_and Kakashi and Gaara, too..._)). Now, your question... for the most part? Unless he's just been worn out completely by practice/previous battle, then no, most Wizards wouldn't stand a chance. The Unspeakables might-- but then, they're the Unspeakables. For all anyone knows, Jiraiya is an Unspeakable ((...)). And Sasuke's not a bastard. He's just anal. And an idiot. 

**Akua** - I'm glad you like Ron's little hissy fit, and Haku's reaction. Yeah, porr Haku. To go from a relatively unknown hunter-nin to a world famous wizard... yeah, that's going to make him twitchy. Especially when people come to him expecting him to act in a certain way. =grins= Nice deduction. Yeah, Albus would have been going along the thoughtlines of "his parents were in Gryffindor, but his guardian is a Lestrange. He'll be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin." Shows what he knows, eh? 

**Nytingale** - Welcome to the list of reviewers, Nytingale. Hope to here more responses from you... it's not the first one ((_I've found a few_)) but I like to think it's the best one. And that's not just the ego that Zosa likes to fluff talking there. Yeah, Zabuza's dream/Haku's death is around episode 18/19 ((_I know it's one of them, I just don't remember which_)) It's really sad. When you do watch it, have a box of tissues with you. Hehe, this thing updates daily, so no worries about having to wait! 

**Xyverz** - You'd come back anyways. I don't have to tease you, you're already hooked! =_grins_= I've never seen a Hufflepuff Harry either, which is why I did it. Well, and it was the house that made the most sense for Haku 

**Chibi-NarutoKawaii** - Your name makes me laugh. You must review again, just so I can giggle about the cute Naruto. Yeah, chapters are short, for the most part because I'm updating every day. They'll probably get longer when the actually action/adventure part starts up. I have no plans for Ron to be anything other than a Boy-Who-Lived fanboy right now. Mwaha. 

**Irihi Safaia** - =_dryly_= My you sound excited. Hey, go with what calls you, until you can beat it over the head and go, "Okay inspiration, go in THAT direction!" That's what I do. Feel free to use it if you wish, I'm surprised no one else has thought of it yet. Unfortunately, yes, but it was so sweet and so sad, and oh the things that Naruto does for them... =_sniffles_= Poor Haku... poor Zabuza... poor Naruto... hell, poor Kakashi. He didn't mean to kill him. O'course, after that my favorite character comes into play... =_glomps Rock Lee_= Yay for thickbrows! =_Orochimaru scowls in the background_= And Oreo-sama, of course! 

**Mayham El-Diablo** - Not yet, but it's certainly not for lack of trying. I just don't have the money for it right now. I've got... thirteen dollars, because I just paid my car insurance. Damn I need a job. 

**maleficus-lupus** - I'm not really a Ron basher... more like a ... "Ron, you're an idiot, I'm going to portray you like one". =_blinks a few times_= I could seriously get used to being called 'Itch-sama'. =_pauses to stare at her name for a moment_= Wow, I never realised how close it was to "Itachi" until now... 

**Strata** - =_grins_= You'll just have to wait and see on that reaction. Hermione will definitely be different; I'll have some fun with her... I mean, there was that troll, and no one knew she was in the bathroom... heh heh heh... 

**Black myst** - =_snickers_= As much as people like having Harry in Slytherin, there's just something innocent about Haku. And then there is his loyalty to Zabuza... definitely not Slytherin material. You seriously want to see Dumbledore take a beating, don't you? Yeah, I'd like a copy of the picture. My email's sammi[dot]grace[at]shaw[dot]ca. A Haku and Zabuza plushie? Oh I can only imagine how cute it must have been! 

**Kanashii Wolf** - I butcher names simply because it's fun. Can you imagine what he'd do if you called him Oreo to his face? =_snickers_= Blonde Kabuto? =_imagines it for a moment_= Wow, he'd be really hot. But it's just so japanese to make the bad guy with silver hair, you know? ((_This is also how I know Kabuto will be the ultimate bad guy._)) 

**Kaaera** - Yes, you get to see Haku use his weapons in school at some point. The kiddies just have to get off their break first. Hehe. 

**Zosa** - Kabuto is... almighty. He knows all. And not just because of those cards of his, hehe. 

Yeah, that's why I figured Hufflepuff was the best for him. Besides, who would think of a Hufflepuff as an opponent to be worried about? Haku's just gotten more to his side of "no one knows how dangerous I really am!"; Ron's going to learn that the hard way, ne? You almost feel sorry for him... 

Disturbing it is. But I wasn't thinking 'worshiping god' I was thinking... 'whoring oneself out to him'. And now I have a picture of Anko in my head. God, the interaction between Anko and Oreo-sama is amusing, in a disturbing way. 

I am gleefully ignoring the store at which I used to work. I am spreading prejugdice about it. I hate Zellers. 

Yesh, yesh I do love your long reviews. O'course, they seem to look more like emails the more we write... public emails... oh well, it's fun! 

((_Who's going to scar... scare, not scar, the Huffies? Haku or Zabuza? I'm putting money on the Cleaver._)) 

...so many reviews this time. It took me half an hour to respond to them all! 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Six  
The Itch

* * *

Sleep, for Haku and Zabuza, was a little bit different than it was for normal people, Sirius mused to himself. The nin-dog was sprawled on the floor beside the bed. Haku was asleep, yes, but he was also in an upright position against the headboard, fully dressed. Zabuza was comfortably flopped on the bed beside the youth, sword within easy reach of one hand, and Sirius knew that he had a couple of kunai in the other.

While Haku had his own room in the modest living area that he and Zabuza shared, he didn't sleep there. It didn't feel right not to be near Zabuza, even if he was just sleeping. Then again... it might have just been that Momochi's presence kept him from having nightmares over the deaths of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin. 

Rolling over, so that his back was pressed against the base board of the bed, Sirius let his eyes wander across the room. As a dog, his vision may have been impaired, but he'd been living with it so long that he didn't really notice. These days, his senses in human form were the ones that skewed his perception. Not exactly a fun experience, although it was certainly better than living in Azkaban. 

Especially with his godson out there being all... ninja-y. 

With a wuff of air, Sirius settled in for sleep. After so long being constantly on the move, sleeping in trees and caves, the plush carpet beneath his body was... uncomfortable. Hopefully, he'd get used to it. He didn't think Haku would be leaving for some time. 

* * *

"Pointlessness!" Haku had finally lost his temper. It had taken nearly two days of tests in every magical subject taught at the school, and he was beginning to wonder why he came here.

"Oh?" Zabuza looked down at his student, before finishing his exercise and dropping off the ceiling. It was rare for Haku to show his temper, but he certainly had one on him. Momochi figured he had enherited it from one of his parents. 

"What is the point of charms to make something float? It certainly can't move once it's in the air, so what's the use of such a charm? Honestly, half the things they were testing me on could be accomplished by doing it yourself!" scowling, the former hunter-nin stomped to the other side of the room, and began using one of the portraits for target practise. The damn things wouldn't stay still, but maybe they'd learn to stop peeking in on him while he was changing, if he tattered their paintings up a bit. 

He was frustrated by the absolutely uselessness of the things these people were taught. It was like everything was about the short-cut-- to get to point C from point A without going through point B. You didn't learn anything from that! The only thing he could see as comparing to it in the ninja world was the Sharingan-- learning something without having to study a scroll to understand how the technique worked. Not that Haku really understood how the Sharingan worked, so he couldn't really tell if it was an accurate comparision, but it was the best he could do. 

Zabuza watched the boy throw needle after needle for nearly ten minutes, before catching hold of his wrist, "That's enough. You'll never work out your temper that way." 

"Do you have a better idea, Zabuza-san?" Haku's voice was harsh with annoyance, but Zabuza brushed it off. For now, at least. Reprimanding Haku when he was in this mood did not help, he knew from long experience. 

"That forest out there," Zabuza tipped his head in the direction of what he assumed to be the Forbidden Forest, "There's probably something out there that you can practise your mirrors on." 

A slow smile crossed Haku's face, and Scarecrow bounded to his feet, tail wagging. Sure, the dog knew that the Forest was a dangerous place, but Haku was strong. He'd have Zabuza and him there to protect him should things get... out of hand. It had been a long time since he had been in the Forbidden Forest; not since he had graduated from Hogwarts at least. 

"What a wonderful idea, Zabuza-san!" cheered by his new plans for the evening, Haku went for his hunter-nin mask and the kunai tucked away in a drawer. It never hurt to have more weapons, so long as he knew how to use them. 

Hmm, maybe Zabuza-san would consent to letting him learn how to use the Cleaver? Now that would be fun... 

"C'mon Scarecrow, let's go find a target!" the dog gave a woof of agreement, claws scrabbling on stone for a moment when they got into the corridor, before bounding off in a dead run after his godson. The pair of them blew past two men as they shot down the halls, though both dog and boy were moving to fast to be seen clearly. 

Remus Lupin blinked several times, "What... what was that?" 

"I think..." Albus scratched his chin, "...that that might have been Harry." 

Remus whirled around and started after the boy, but Dumbledore grabbed his wrist, "No, Remus. Now is not the time. We need to speak with Mister Lestrange." 

"Right..." the werewolf nodded, looking back over his shoulder in the direction Haku had gone. He hadn't seen the boy in fourteen years. It was hardly his fault that he wanted to see him again. 

"What do you want?" Momochi scowled, closing the door to his and Haku's room. He had his Cleaver strapped to his back, and it was obvious that he was planning to go after the boy. 

"We would just like to speak with you in regards to Harry," Remus placated, although it didn't appear to be working very well. The missing-nin's scowl deepened. 

"Well I don't." 

"I must insist," the normal twinkle in the Headmaster's eye was missing, "We merely wish to know how Harry came to be in your company, Mister Lestrange." 

Zabuza snorted, "I'm no Lestrange. Haven't been in twenty years, give or take a couple. Use my name if you're going to talk to me." He promptly pushed past the two men, hands shoved into his pockets as he strolled down the hall. Oh, he most certainly could have moved much faster, but he wanted to see their reactions. 

Well, perhaps not 'see', but 'hear'. 

"Mister Momochi," Albus did not sound pleased, "How did Harry end up with you, when he was supposed to be living with his Aunt and Uncle?" 

"I asked, he came," was the brisk answer, "If that's all...?" 

"Did you kill them?" Remus frowned at the man's back, as he drew to a halt, "Did you kill them like you killed Moemi?" 

"I will only say this once," Zabuza hissed, glaring over his shoulder, "I. Did. Not. Kill. Haha!" Moemi was a sore spot with him; he had loved her like no other, and that day was the day that the Demon of the Mist had been born. 

'Haha?' Remus raised an eyebrow at Albus, who was staring at Zabuza with some surprise. Albus shook his head-- he'd explain later. 

"It would be greatly appreciated if--" 

"Appreciation doesn't mean anything," Zabuza was no longer in a good mood, and he just wanted to get out there with Haku and kill something, "I don't know about you, but I have places to be." 

With the same surprising speed Haku had shown at dinner two days earlier, Zabuza was gone, merely a flicker at the end of the hall, before vanishing completely. The Headmaster and the werewolf stood there for a few minutes, blinking in confusion. Finally, the werewolf spoke, "Easier to talk to, Albus?" 

Dumbledore had a distant, but confused, look in his eyes, "I had thought... the Lestrange family is not known for being able to keep things... quiet. I assumed that he would brag about how Harry came to be his companion." 

Remus shoved his hands deep into his sleeves, finger nails digging into his elbows, "You heard him, Headmaster; he's not a Lestrange. He's a Momochi." 

"An... unknown factor," Albus murmured as Remus bid him goodbye, and went off to find his dear friend's son. Perhaps Haku could do with a story or two from his father's youth...? 

* * *

The mirrors came down as a panting Haku finally acknowledged that he didn't have the mana left to continue to power the things. Still, he found himself back flipping away from the sweeping stroke of the cleaver, kunai in one hand, senbon in the other. He still had chakra left over, though he'd lost a significant amount to holding the mirrors in mirror form longer than he was used to. Fighting Zabuza-san was a challenge that he fleefully lept on, despite the fact that both of them knew that he wouldn't win.

Kawarimi, kawarimi, kawarimi-- three in a row, but he didn't mold the chakra for the forth one. He'd seen Sakura pull this move over his Mirror Shard, and he just wanted to see if it would work on Zabuza-san. To his surprise, Zabuza /_did_/ look away, searching for the next appearance of the hunter-nin. For a moment, he thought he might actually land a significant blow on the man. 

Only for a moment, however, as the jounin twisted around, slamming a harsh kick into Haku's side and sending the rushing boy flying. With a tremendous crash, he hit a tree several feet away, slumping to the ground. Zabuza didn't wait, racing forwards to knee the boy in the gut. He coughed, blood splattering on the inside of his mask, while Momochi pressed a cold blade against his throat, "I win." 

Haku gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, and his most important person stood up. Haku lay there for a moment, before Scarecrow came out of the woods at his back, and nuzzled his cheek, causing the mask to fall off. Haku laughed lightly, wincing as his ribs complained, "I suppose that that is one thing that's good about being at a magic school." 

Zabuza raised an eyebrow. He wasn't finding anything all that interesting about this place. Perhaps when actual classes started up again... 

"Magic and potions to heal broken bones. I think you cracked a rib, and this way I won't be out of comission for long at all." 

The older ninja gave a bark of wry laughter, "That would have been useful after that fiasco at the bridge!" 

Haku grinned, stumbling to his feet. Scarecrow was immediately there, acting like a living crutch, and Haku silently thanked the dog's genetics for making him so large. The dog was a great help in getting him back to Hogwarts, and after that into the Hospital Wing. 

By the time Madam Pomfrey had tended to his ribs, Haku was frowning. Scarecrow had been forced to stay outside of the room, for various reasons, but that wasn't what was getting to him. What was, was the fact that Scarecrow had guided him here. Neither he nor Zabuza-san had any idea of where the Hospital Wing was, let alone how to reach it. And yet... the nin-dog had. There was something unusal about Scarecrow, and it wasn't just his size. 

His intelligence could be considered as part of the deal, given that he could be summoned by Kakashi at any time. No, it was the fact that he knew things that he should not possibly know, and now Haku didn't know what to say. 

He'd seen Scarecrow take some serious hits, so knew he wasn't a bushin, or even a henge. He would have had to have infinite chakra in order to hold a henge for so long. So what was Scarecrow? Because he certainly wasn't a normal dog. 

Even a normal nin-dog. 

* * *

End Part Six 

Short, I know, but I'm about to pass out from fatigue. 


	7. chapter 07

**Daikari** - =_grins_= There are a few others on , I just like thinking of it as "the best". I'm glad you like it. 

**Ran** - Glad you like it. Yeah, Dumbledore seems a little... set. He doesn't see Zabuza as anything other than a Lestrange, and he doesn't see Haku as anything other than a miniture James. He's having a few issues. Yeah, yeah. I like to think that Sasuke just went a little crazy after Oreo bit him. And waking up to Sakura-chan so beaten up ((_even if it was damn cool that she took a hit like that just to_ /bite/ _Zaku_)) probably wasn't good. More dark chakra in him. If he hadn't met Oreo, that wouldn't have happened-- he'd probably still be the guy who got himself "killed" to save Naruto's ass. Right now, he just has issues. And yes, leaving Leaf for Sound was stupid, and it's Itachi getting his way, but kids can be short-sighted. 

**Irihi Safaia** - Woo Yay for Itch-love! =bounces with you= 

**dreamcatcher** - I take it you're in the hurricane path...? Well, hopefully this gets to you before you loose power. 

**Nytingale** - Indeed... Dumbledore's acting like an idiot because he was expecting something and didn't get it. It will take awhile to set his mind to the 'correct' path. As for Hermione... read on. Voldemort... heh, maybe. _ -- obviously not telling which question she's answer. Itch is mean like that. _Blackouts are evil. Hope the hurricane doesn't do to much damage-- I don't know anything about hurricanes, since I have a mountain range between me and the closest ocean. Hehe, Remus has to /find/ Haku before the two of them can talk. But I have ideas for it. 

**Mayhem** - If they paid me for fanfiction, I'd have long since gotten my tattoo. I was thinking of getting a tattoo like the one Ren has _((from Shaman King)) _it's a bit large though... cost a whole hell of a lot, but it's also only one color. I've put LW on the backshelf for a moment, the scenes won't connect properly, so I'm going to give it some time. 

**Kanashii** - Ninja-y is a cool word. I'm glad I thought of it. Mwaha. Oh! Oh! I'll join that club! It'll be fun! I think I've started confusing people, since I seem to have gotten stuck calling him Oreo even in normal conversations -;; Oh well, it's amusing. As for Haku in Huffle territory... you'll just have to wait and see, ne? 

**Akua** - Healing classes? Now there's an idea. I'll have to-- oh hey, One Piece. Hmm, that was random. I need to stop watching the telly when I'm writing responses... Anyways, Sirius is safe for a little while, but Haku might be a little angry. And he might not be. Zabuza'll probably be pissed, though. Defense will certainly be an... interesting class. ((_...I still don't know who'll be teaching it. _=sighs=)) Nah, I can't see Haku in the uniform. He'll just have to wear a darker version of his outfit, with a yellow sash or something. Heh. 

**Black myst** - Hehe, cute was what I was going for. I can't help but make Haku and Zabuza all cute and fluffy when they're alone. Hehe. Oh yeah, Naruto would get a kick out of the pranks-- he'd probably get a kick out of Fred and George, come to think of it. Heh, Zabuza just needs to get peoples' attention. Maybe he should cut the Head Table in half, eh? Just because one is stronger, does not mean one is better. Experience and skill comes into play-- Haku was surprised by Zabuza actually 'falling' for his trick, which left him vulnerable to Zabuza's _/real/ _intentions-- his counter attack. A trick like that only works if the opponent can't guess at what you're doing. 

**Chibi-Naru** - Do you mind if I call you that, or do you have a different nickname? I'm the first one? Wow, that's weird. But He's so cute as a kid, that I couldn't help but comment! Heh, Haku's suspicions becomes Zabuza's suspicions and you know how Zabuza is... 

**Kaaera** - I rested, I rested. _=grins= _Got another four and a half hours of sleep, and I was a happy Itch. I thank you for your worry about my welfare. Here's a new chapter because you cared! _=grins= _Ah, sorry. Haku has a technique called "Hijutsu Makyou Hyoushou" or Demonic Ice Mirrors in english. He uses water from the surrounding area _((ie: the mist created by Zabuza's 'Kirigankure no Jutsu' in Naruto)) _to conjure mirrors to surround his opponents. The opponent can't get out _((unless they're Naruto))_, and Haku "becomes one" with the mirrors. He literally 'enters' the mirrors, and can move from one to the other with such speed that he's invisible. He can also have reflections of himself in the mirrors, so an opponent never knows which is the real one. Haku attacks with his senbon-- his needles-- from the mirrors. When he fights Naruto, he literally 'drops out' of the mirror that hovers in the air over top of the 'ring' of mirrors. Haku can also use the mirrors to 'teleport' himself places-- like when he got between Zabuza and Kakashi's Chidori attack. That probably didn't help much, but if you do a google search with the technique name, you should be able to get more information on it. 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Seven  
The Itch

* * *

Haku nearly rolled his eyes as Zabuza poked and prodded his sides. The hunter-nin was hardly amused by the Demon's inspection of his ribs, but it was hardly a new experience. Every single time he'd been injured since joining up with the man, Zabuza had insisted on checking his wounds periodically. It was a gesture that touched him, but it was hardly an exciting experience.

"I'm fine, Zabuza-san." 

"I don't trust magic very much." 

This time Haku _/did/_ roll his eyes, "Zabuza-san, you were born into magic." 

"Can't use it worth a damn, and it's never helped me out," the man retorted, before stepping back and letting the boy pull his clothing back on. Haku rolled his shoulders to make sure the clothing and weapons were settled properly, shaking his head in exasperation. 

"Honestly, Zabuza-san, you confuse me sometimes," Haku smiled as the older man laughed, before continuing, "Sometimes you seem to like magic, and other times you express your distaste for it. Which is it?" 

"Whichever I feel it is at the time," the man was grinning at him, the bandages around his face unbound for the time being. His companion just smiled back at him, before turning around to adjust his hitae-ate into a more comfortable position. Zabuza frowned, "When do classes start again?" 

"Two days from now," Haku was prompt with his response, "It shall be... interesting... being introduced to the rest of the student body." 

Zabuza raised an eyebrow, "The last time you had to be 'introduced' to a group was when I brought you before the Mizukage." 

"And we both know how well _/that/_ turned out," both of them winced. It had been an uphill battle to convince the Mizukage to allow Haku to both join the village and become a Hidden Mist Ninja. The amount of time he had spent practicing and fighting with Zabuza on the trip from England to China, had helped to get Haku into the village. Not that he had been there for very long-- barely long enough to be trained as a Hunter-nin-- before Zabuza's little rebellion. 

"Yeah, well..." the man shrugged, "You're actually wanted here. That could prove all the difference." 

"Indeed," Haku sat on the edge of the bathing tub, frowning, "Zabuza-san?" 

"What?" 

"Have you noticed that Scarecrow seems to act... different from other dogs?" 

Zabuza blinked, "He's a nin-dog." 

"That's not what I meant," Haku folded his hands in his lap, looking down, "He seems... more than that. He knew how to get me to the Hospital Wing earlier today. And he knew his way through this castle well enough to find our room when we knew he wasn't anywhere near us." 

"As I said, he's a nin-dog. Atop that, he's also trained to track people. He may have well just sniffed us out." 

He shook his head, "That still doesn't explain how he knew how to get to the hospital wing." 

This time Zabuza frowned, eyes growing distant as he thought back on their trip from China to Scotland, and every time Scarecrow was involved. Thinking about it, the dog did seem to act strangely-- different from any dog he'd ever seen, ninja or otherwise. Oh, he put up a great front, but there were certain differences; only noticable if you had spent a great deal of time with him, "Henge no jutsu?" 

"I don't think so," Haku shook his head, "The amount of chakra needed to sustain the illusion for so long would be inconceviable-- especially since we've both seen him sleep while in dog form." 

Zabuza was scrabbling at old memories, long since faded. His brow furrowed as he thought back; he was sure he'd heard something similar once, "...I'm not quite sure, but I think... I heard once that there was magic to turn someone into an animal. It was specific... I don't remember what it was..." Zabuza hated not knowing something that could be a possible trump card, either for him or an enemy. 

Haku gave him a wry grin, "I suppose it's time to research our dog?" 

"Your dog, Haku. That mutt gives me nothing but trouble!" 

* * *

They were quiet, she had to give them that, but Hermione Granger didn't miss anything. Not nice first year, had she ever allowed anything or anyone to sneak up on her. Her grades might not have been as high as they could have been-- she knew she had the intellect to be in the top 98 percentile-- but the Gryffindor Fifth Year only cared about staying alert, and therefore alive.

Looking up from her book-- A Guide to the Ultimate Magical Defense-- her eyes were immediately trained upon the two newest residents of Hogwarts. Raising an eyebrow, she had to wonder just what, exactly, Zabuza Momochi and Harry Potter needed in the library, that they would be going about so quietly. It didn't take either of the males long to note her presense, but Momochi continued deeper into the library, while Potter nodded politely to her. She, somewhat hesitantly, raised a hand in greeting. 

Her attention returned to her book, though she could still feel the presense of the two in the room. There was a tingle along her skin as to where the two men were, and a vague impression of their distance from her. Before that... incident... on All Hallow's Eve in 1991, she had never felt it. But now... it never left her alone. That sensation of knowing where everyone was at all times-- it was infinitely distracting during her classes, preventing her from being able to absorb information through instruction, when her classmates shifted and fidgeted. She had yet to figure out just what it was that she was feeling, but she wouldn't give up until she knew. 

With a frustrated grunt, the short-haired girl slammed her book onto the table, glaring at the offensive thing. There wasn't anything in it that she didn't already know-- she'd spent so much time in this library, trying to discover this unknown ability of hers, or trying to figure out a better way to protect herself than relying on said ability, but there was nothing. 

"You look... annoyed," the voice was softer than she thought it would be, even after hearing it at dinner two nights ago. Blinking, she was startled to realise that Potter had somehow managed to traverse the distance between here and there within seconds-- so fast that even her 'warning system' didn't give her any notice. It had been the same when he had appeared before Ron, but that hadn't been quite so bad-- Hermione stumbled back, knocking her chair over. She stared into the warm liquid brown depths of Potter's eyes, her own wide with shock. 

"How... how did you move so quickly?" 

"Practise," the boy smiled softly, and Hermione was startled to realise that he looked very, very feminine. His sleek long dark hair was so different from her sun-lightened and raggedy short brown hair, and his face appeared unblemished-- a stark contrast to the scars left over from having her jaw shattered as a child. Had she been anywhere but Hogwarts, the wound would have been fatal. As it was, Hermione had barely pulled through; to this day, she didn't know how she got away from the troll, only that she had and that the bathroom she'd been hiding in looked like it had been scorched, "Now then," he was saying, "What has you so frustrated?" 

She settled back into her chair, looking down at the book she had been studying with a growl, "Five years I've been trying to figure this out, and I haven't got it yet." 

"Got what?" Zabuza half grumbled, striding closer. Damn Haku and his sensitivity. He couldn't leave the girl to figure out her problems on her own, could he? 

"I don't know," she admitted, "It's just this... feeling. I know where everyone around me is at all times." It wasn't like she hadn't told other people-- Dumbledore knew, McGonagall knew, her year-mates knew even though they didn't believe her, and her parents knew. Telling someone else was not a big deal, "A tingle... like all the hair on my body is standing, but in reaction to someone's presence." 

Potter looked at Granger in surprise, then up at Momochi, then back to her. He spoke quickly to Zabuza in japanese, rattling off words faster than Hermione could recognise a few sylabels-- not that it would help all that much if she had been able to make 'words' out of all the "wa"s and "ga"s he was spouting. She didn't know Japanese. 

Momochi shrugged and responded in kind, before Harry nodded sharply, "Miss...?" 

"Granger. Hermione Granger." 

"Miss Granger," the fifteen year old began, "You may have something we call a 'Bloodline Limit'." 

"A what?" that wasn't a term she'd heard before. Perhaps it was a pureblood thing? Shaking her head, she frowned, "Can't be. I'm the first wizard in my family!" 

"Bloodline Limits only follow the bloodline after they've been trained properly," Zabuza snorted. Haku chuckled. 

"That would explain why Kakashi could use the Sharingan, even though he is not an Uchiha," the long haired boy shook his head, "But we're not talking about Uchiha or Kakashi. We are talking about the possibility of a new Granger Bloodline Limit." 

Hermione frowned, "I still don't know what a Bloodline Limit is." 

"It's normally a jutsu-- a specific way of molding your chakra and your inner mana together-- that can only be produced by someone with similar abilities to you," Zabuza explained somewhat moodily, "Which is why it's called a bloodline limit-- one's descendants are always the ones most similiar to one, especially if one is there to raise said descendants. The jutsu does not always stay within one family... but it does not need hand seals or magic words to use." 

"With practice," Haku murmured, "your ability to 'sense' when people are near could quite concievably allow you to know exactly where they are even from rooms or floors away. Possibly, your 'sense' is similiar to certain doujutsu, and you would be able to 'see' what you're senseing." 

Hermione's eyes had widened remarkably wide at the prospect. Such an ability... that would make protecting herself against mishaps like the one with the troll, and the following ones with Lupin and Crouch easily escapable. Oh the possibilities...! 

"How... how would I practise this? How could I learn to do that?" 

"You would need someone to teach you," Haku's eyes slid towards Zabuza, and Momochi looked stunned for a second. 

"What? No! Haku, you are my only student, remember?!" 

Grander blinked, "You have a Bloodline Limit?" 

"I do, yes," Haku nodded, "But Zabuza-san did not train me in it. No, I was thinking that Zabuza-san could begin your instruction in chakra, so that you can learn the basics. From there you will have to figure it out on your own. My Bloodline Limit is not a doujutsu, and the only ones with doujutsu that I know are in China." 

"And they think you're dead." 

"There is that." 

"Dead?" Hermione's lips quirked, "There must be some story behind that one." 

"Oh, there most certainly is," Haku gave her an amused smile, "But it is a story for another day. Zabuza-san and I came here for a reason." 

Zabuza nodded, "Glad to see you remembered." 

"Sarcasm suits you," the Gryffindor smirked up at the Hufflepuff's guardian. Zabuza rolled his eyes. Haku was bad enough alone. After a moment, she tipped her head to one side, "What are you looking for? I know this library off by heart, even if I haven't read many of the books." 

"We're looking up people who turn into animals." 

"Like... lycanthropy? Or Animagi?" 

"An.. that's it!" Zabuza pounded a fist into his open palm, "Animagus! That's the word I couldn't remember!" 

"Far wall, three rows in, left side of the unit, two shelves from the bottom. Basic information Animagi. Restricted section, near wall, four rows in, left side of the unit, top shelf. How to become an Animagus," Hermione rattled off the information as quickly as she had said she could, to the amazement of both men. She tapped her chin lightly, "So why are you looking for information like that?" 

Haku had already gone to gather the books, so Zabuza shrugged, "Haku's dog, Scarecrow, doesn't act like any dog either of us have seen before. We wanted to know if he was a human in disguise or not. What better way?" 

"Confronting him?" 

Zabuza laughed, "And if you were pretending to be someone's pet, and suddenly had someone demanding that you shouw them your real self, would you reveal yourself?" 

"Point," Hermione chuckled as Haku returned. Picking up one of the books on Animagi, she had to wonder, "Mister Zabuza?" 

"What?" 

"If I help you locate information on Animagi... will you train me?" 

Zabuza was silent for a long time. If he accepted her, he felt that he would be on the way to making his own little 'genin' team. Except that Haku wasn't a genin, and neither was Granger. And she never would be, if he didn't bring her back to ye olde ninja world. 

Zabuza slapped a mirror shard onto the cover of the book in her hands, "I suppose I could." 

It never hurt to have more than one weapon. 

* * *

End Part Seven 

And people are going to start wondering what Hermione looks like. Well, I doubt I'll be putting in a whole lot of description of her appearance, but for those who care this is what she looks like: 

She has short hair, kinda wild, like Shino's ((_except shorter, and without the insects living in it_)). Whenever she leaves Hogwarts grounds, she wears a high-collared cloak ((_like Itachi's, only without the clouds_)) to hide the scars that litter her jawline and neck from her encounter with the troll. The scars are there, because Madam Pomfrey was more worried about her surviving, than her looking pretty. By the time she was stablized, too much time had passed, and the tissue scared. She wears her Hogwarts robes loose and open, despite repeatedly being told to 'straight them up'. Her robes are cinched at the waist with a red and gold silk sash. ((_Picture the men's kimonos worn in Kenshin and other such period anime/manga/photos)) _Underneath her robes she wears a simple white tunic. 

I am, as always, going with the assumption that the movies are grossly out of touch with reality, considering that wizards don't have any idea how to dress like muggles, even though they do in the movies. My version of Hogwarts robes are similar to yukata, only without the "stylized" collar, and the thick belts/sashes. Beneath the robes they wear things like tunics and leggings. Yay. 

As for Hermione's muggle clothing... I dunno. I'll think of it later. 


	8. chapter 08

**Ran** - Heh, Hogwarts'll never know what hit 'em if Zaku uses his mirrors... mmm, I suppose, though I never really saw Sasuke as anything but an avenging asshole before that whole freakish 'nightmare' of his. Now he's a power hungry asshole with a snake in his head. Why does that suddenly sound like Stargate? =_shakes her head_= Never mind that. I think having to deal with learning Naruto was the one who could beat Haku was a harsh beating to his ego. And then to have Naruto turn around and call him the exact same thing he'd called him on their trip to Wave Country while fighting Orochimaru... that musta hurt. Getting the Curse Seal so soon would have totally upset his mental balance, especially since he was quaking in his boots while Naruto-- dead-last-- was doing what he couldn't. Poor Sasuke, getting shown up by Naruto-- and having Sakura-chan of all people tell him that! Now there's an ego-buster. No wonder he went psycho-show "I need power, let's be a traitor" after that. ((_And yes, I know that Naruto probably would have survived Haku because of Kyuubi-- but Sasuke didn't._)) 

**Irihi Safaia** - =_smirks_= Go, tired slumping of joy! Heh, I have plans for Hermione, so she won't be 'dropped like a stone'-- maybe after a while, but not at the moment. Mwaha. 

**Yami no Kaze** - Well thankyou for the compliment. I hope you continue to like the story even as I continuously go off in unexpected directions. As for incorperating more ninjutsu, expect that to start soon-- Hermione /_did_/ ask to be trained, did she not? =_grins_= As for Naruto popping in. Oh... he might. Or... it could be the other way around. Mwaha. 

**Strata** - =_snickers_= I think Neji would have a heart attack if Hermione popped out of nowhere and said that to him. Or within his hearing range. Thankyou for that delightful image. ((_I like Neji, he's just an asshole._)) And I was thinking of the Byakugan when I was thinking of Hermiones Bloodline Limit. As for going up against the Hijutsu Makyou Hyoushou... we'll just have to see, eh? 

**May** - =_nods_= It's frustrating trying to make two scenes work together the way they do in your head, but they refuse to do so on paper. I'm glad to see that you like Hermione in this. I thought it would be amusing to have her know where one can find every book in the library. She may not have the grades/knowledge that she originally would, but hey, that doesn't keep her out of the library! 

**Kaaera** - =_smirks_= Ah yes, I am the teacher. I should don some glasses and a lab coat... I feel so special, hehe. Heh, knowing Hermione, she probably could rattle off the specific place for a specific book, but Zabuza and Haku only wanted to know a general area. There would, of course, be more than one book. =_grins_= Sleep is a delightful thing, it is! 

**Nytingale** - Of course she changed =_grins_= She's had five years to herself, and five years to deal with the damage done to her by the troll that all hallows eve. As for Lupin/Crouch, that's a plot point. It will come into effect later. Glad you caught it! 

**Black myst** - =_chuckles_= It's always about Draco and the beating of Dumbledore, isn't it? Nah, I have no intention of doing anything similar to turning into a ninja. That's just wrong. Now, his brothers on the other hand... hehe, what a cute image you have now implanted into my mind. It goes wonderfully with Strata's image of Hermione and her Hakke. Draco the Ninja? But... he's a pureblood... Haku might play Quiditch. Or he might not. Eh, haven't decided yet. =_grins_= I know Hermione's ability is common. So do Haku and Zabuza. Just read on... hehe. 

**maleficus-lupus** - Insane am I? How delightful! Sanity is overrated, anyways. Hehe, what can provide you with more entertainment is the thought of Hermione with a Limit like the Byakugan, and her facing off against Neji. Mwaha. 

**Chibi-Naru** - =_giggles_= You're definitely acting like a chibi-Naruto. Confrontation? Oh most certainly. After all, Ron has to make sure that everyone knows that Haku can not possibly be Harry Potter. Mwaha. 

**dreamcatcher** - Yeech, blackouts. I hate them. Nasty things them. Well, if you do end up losing power for a week, you'll at least be able to come back to lots of chapters, right? 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Eight  
The Itch

* * *

After a not-quite tireless search for any and all information in regards to revealing an animagus, Zabuza, Haku and Hermione were forced to admit defeat. Dinner had rolled around once more, and to top that, Scarecrow had finally tracked the two men down. Neither ninja really wanted their suspicions outted just yet-- it might make Scarecrow take off before they could get any answers.

Like why the hell an animagus was a nin-dog. As for the "why is he following us?" Hermione had retorted with a rather sarcastic, "Maybe it's because you're famous, Potter." Which had resulted in Haku's twitching eyebrow, and Zabuza explaining to the girl that he didn't go by that name anymore. It was during the explaining of why he didn't that Scarecrow had come across them, and they had been forced to pack up their books and leave the library. 

Separating outside the Great Hall doors, Zabuza wrangled a promise from Hermione to be up early the next morning, because they would begin her training in the ways of the ninja. The walk over to the Hufflepuff table was broken only by a soft conversation spoken entirely in japanese. 

"Why did you want her to think she has a Bloodline Limit? Sensing chakra is a basic skill for any ninja." 

Zabuza smirked at him, "Haku, she doesn't know that. And she won't-- we're going to mold the way she senses chakra beyond anything anyone has seen before. A combination of _Sharingan_ and _Byakugan_..." he was giddy at the thought of having such a weapon at his fingertips. Haku raised an eyebrow. 

"I didn't think such a thing was possible, Zabuza-san. The two doujutsu are incompatible, are they not?" 

"I doubt it," Momochi crossed his arms. Konoha rarely let information about either of their most powerful clans out into the rest of the world. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha were their trump cards. Zabuza wanted his own version of it, "One allows the user to see and learn techniques. One allows the user to see the inner coils of one's chakra. Different though they are, they do have some similarities... and I want her to believe that doing both at the same time is not impossible." 

Haku frowned, "We are both still learning how to combine mana and chakra to form the 'bloodline' abilities. How do you prepose we figure out how to... cultivate... this ability within Granger?" 

"We experiment. Trial and error is the best we can do-- unless you wish to train her in the use of your _Hijutsu Makyou Hyoushou._" 

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not," Haku smiled, "I've gotten used to having such a... unique jutsu at my disposal-- and only my disposal. To have someone else capabile of such a feat..." 

Zabuza frowned, nodding, "For all we know, that mutt is here to learn our techniques and relay them back to Kakashi. For him to discover that you _/can/_ teach someone how to combine mana and chakra in order to 'make' a bloodline..." the two of them supressed a shiver. Their previous experiments in training Haku to use his mirrors were harsh memories, and the thought that someone could learn a 'shortcut' to Haku's abilities was rather disturbing. 

"What are you plans for her tomorrow morning, then?" 

"We'll start with basic exercises to extend her sensing range," Zabuza was now in what Haku had once jokingly entitled his 'teacher-mode'. Zabuza hated thinking of himself as a teacher, "You'll have to work with her on combining chakra and mana; I don't have the slightly idea how the hell you'd go about doing it. We'll also get her used to some basic weapons. Did you bring any extra shuriken or kunai?" 

"No, but I suppose the first thing I'll do is teach her how to transfigure items into good quality weapons." 

Momochi snorted as they sat in their seats, "Nothing beats an old fashioned smithy." 

"Of course not," Haku nodded his agreement, "However transfiguration works wonders when in need of items and fast." 

"Your ability to create needles out of ice always helps," Zabuza laughed, before switching back to english, "Are you ready for beginning your 'magical education', Haku?" 

The boy shrugged, readjusting the utensils at his plate. They always put the fork on the wrong side... "I don't know. Perhaps. I don't even know what classes I'll be in-- or at what level." 

Momochi would have said something else, but he was abruptly cut off by the arrival of food. Like a starved man, he greedily dug into the feast, ignoring the way the students around him shied away from his sharp, pointed teeth. Haku went about eating in a much more civilized matter. 

It wasn't until they had finished eating and were leaving the Great Hall that Haku was pulled to one side. He could himself looking up into the warm eyes of a man with grey-speckled hair. Haku tipped his head in question, and the man smiled back. 

"My name is Remus Lupin, and I was friends with your father." 

"My father?" Haku was surprised. He had rarely heard anyone speak of his father-- Zabuza-san had never known the man, knowing him only through rumors and what his older siblings had told him about the 'traitor' of the purebloods. 

Remus nodded, "Yes, we met in our first year here at Hogwarts, and we were friends until the day he died. His death was a great blow-- the betrayal of one friend, and the death of yet another all in quick succession was... painful. But that is not why I want to talk with you, Harry." 

"Haku," he corrected, a note of warning in his voice. He was getting sick and tired of being called by his birthname, and the sooner everyone figured out that he didn't go by it anymore, the better. 

"Ah... Haku then," Remus resolved to think of it as a nickname-- just as his had been Moony. It would make things easier for him, than to consider this boy someone completely different than the baby he'd once known, "Would you care for a cup of tea? I could always tell you about your father's exploits here at Hogwarts." 

Haku paused for a moment to consider, before shaking his head, "I'll have to take you up on that another time, Mister Lupin. I should be getting some rest, to ensure that my ribs have healed properly." 

Remus blinked, startled, "Your... ribs?" 

"Aa," Haku nodded with a wry smile, "Zabuza-san and I were training; I underestimated him while using an attack I'd once seen a former enemy use. I was... caught off guard, and injured." 

"Are you alright?!" 

"I'm fine," Haku was smiling through it all, "The damage was hardly what could be considered 'critical' and Madam Pomfrey was quite skilled in patching me up. Although her beside manner was certainly unlike any I've seen before." Most of the time, it had fallen to one another of the mist-nins to patch each other up-- most hospitals had a "Wall of Missing-Nin" so that they could call on the respective village to come gather the injuried missing-nin. It would hardly have been intelligent for the Demon of the Mist to go to a hospital, either for himself or his protege. 

Remus gave a light laugh, though his eyes were still dark with worry, "Yes, Madam Pomfrey is certainly... something, is she not? Well then, perhaps when you're feeling better you could come visit me? I'm currently holed up in the Teacher's Tower, despite not having taught here in a year and a half." 

"I'll try," the boy did not make promises. He might not be able to get anywhere near Remus should certain... facts of his life come to light. And from all that he had heard during his dinners about Slytherins, he would have to be very careful indeed. 

"Har... Haku?" 

"Yes?" 

"What does 'haha' mean?" 

Haku blinked a few times then smiled a bit awkwardly, "It's japanese for mother," then he was bidding the man farewell, and continuing on down the hallway. At the first turn, Zabuza stood with his Cleaver braced against his shoulders. Haku smiled at the over protectiveness the man was showing. 

Ever since that day on the bridge... 

"What did he want?" 

"To have tea with me, and wonder what Haha meant." 

Zabuza's eyes darkened, "Doesn't know when to leave well enough alone!" 

"Zabuza-san?" had Lupin heard the word from Zabuza-san? If so, when? And why was it pissing the man off as much as it was. 

"Never mind," Zabuza grumbled, "Let's get back to the room. We have a training schedule to work out." 

Haku trailed along after Momochi was an amused look on his face, "Wouldn't it be easier if we had my school schedule first?" 

"And Granger's," grumped the ninja, "Dammit, now we have to go find her." 

Haku just laughed. 

* * *

End Part Eight

Another short chapter. Sorry about that, but I want to skip over and into the return to classes, but I promised myself I'd get this out of the way first. There may be two more short chapters, before I can really get into the thick of things. Like the reaction of the general populace to Haku, Zabuza, and Zabuza's Cleaver, not to mention get into Hermione's training, and the joining of the third member of their genin team. 

I'm thinking... Ginny or George Weasley. Maybe Luna Lovegood. What do you guys think? 

There's a poll at itchfanfic if you want to vote on it.


	9. chapter 09

**DracoStarbo** - =_snickers_= Believe me, it wasn't that strange. I got a marriage proposal over a fic once. Now that was disturbing. Whoo! Double-dipped chocolate strawberries! =_abruptly forgets everything else she was about to say, in favor of daydreaming about strawberries_= I have a slight addiction to strawberries. I ate nine chocolate-dipped strawberries last night, so I have a sugar-hangover. Okay, back to business; I have such evil plots for the twins, they're so much fun to play with! Well, here's the next chapter, so you don't have to wait long! 

**Ran** - =_chuckles_= I had been thinking about the Sound-nin when I wrote that response. The similarity of the roumaji threw me off. Lupin's going to have a few troubles trying to get into Haku's good graces, especially when he's inadvertantly pissed off Zabuza. Hehe. =snickers= I won't argue with Sasuke being a wimp. He went from seeming strong ((_their first encounter with enemy nin_)) to shaking in his boots from a stare. Hell, even Sakura seemed to get over it. Why didn't he? =_shakes her head_= I was so annoyed when he just went and tried to hand over the scroll. Hmph. 

**Akua**, I loves you. You've just helped me figure out how Scarecrow's revealed to be Sirius Black. You have my eternal gratitude. Heh, Luna was never actually a serious prospect as a ninja. I just threw that in there to see the reactions . 

**Irihi** - Nah, it's not that tiring ((_yet_)). Repeative, maybe, but not tiring. =_raises an eyebrow_= Goddess of Fanfiction? That's a new one. 

**Kanashii** - Hehe, yeah, I'm updating every day right now. I swear, I'm going to have Hermione freak out on someone for calling her "Mione". That would be one hell of a lot of fun! Mwaha! On the note of "Mione" that's actually very close to her codename for when the adventure part starts. As for the problems with Fred... I have an idea for it, and it is a most evil idea. Amusing, but evil. 

**Black myst** - Like I told Akua, I put Luna on there for amusement factor only. Mwaha. Yeah, they're kinda using Granger, but one must remember that Zabuza was using Haku for a long time. It's not that much different. 

**Strata** - Previous chapter, Zabuza yells "I. Did. Not. Kill. Haha!" and Remus never got an explaination as to what it meant. So he asked Haku. =_chuckles_= Maybe I'll throw in some plans I had for another HP AU involving Ginny and the Heir of Slytherin stuff, if she ends up all ninja-y. Mwaha. 

**Nytingale** - Yeah, there'll be three members. Maybe they'll attend the next Chuunin Exam. Now wouldn't that be something? A man and his protege long thought dead, showing up with two ninja that don't even have a village... heh. I don't think I'll be dropping them soon. I had a wicked idea while writing this chapter, and I'd like to expand on it. You'll see when you get to the end of this chapter. 

**Xyverz** - Mmm, yeah, I'm not to fond of the last couple chapters. Hopefully I'll be able to get this thing going into the good stuff soon. 

**Kakashi** - I might. =_grins_= Actually, I do have some... vague plans and plots to have Haku/Hermione/#Three visit the Naruto-realm for a short while. 

**Kaaera** - itchfanfic is my yahoo group ((_well, one of them._)) Fizzy white hair? Can't I just have gravity defying gray-white hair and a hitae-ate to hide behind? =grins= Vague descriptions of Hatake Kakashi ahoy! Zabuza can be so amusing sometimes, can't he? As for his reactions to the Haha thing-- look back a chapter or so; Zabuza calls Moemi "haha", and he gets pissed off if they bring her up. 

**May** - Hermione amuses me so. I love twisting her, and yet trying to stay true to her base personality. It can be quite the challenge, I assure you. And I got the idea for the fork thing from my own experiences-- my parents insist on setting the knife and fork up the exact same way every night, even though /_all_/ of us end up having to switch them around. =_rolls her eyes_= Some people... and yes, Remus will, at some point, discover Sirius as Scarecrow. 

**Chibi-Naru** - Nothing to be asshamed of if you're hyper. Lord knows I can be worse than Naruto is! ((_Sounds impossible, but it's not._)) On a full moon? What, you want them to end up as weres? ((_not a bad idea, just not one for this fic. Ideas doth come..._)) 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Nine  
The Itch

* * *

Morning didn't come soon enough for Zabuza, and Haku found himself being awoken a few hours earlier than was usual for his companion. Owing to his previous pattern of behavior, Zabuza should have been content to sleep as long as he possibly could in this relatively safe environment.

Of course, normally Zabuza didn't have a chance at creating a Bloodline Limit doujutsu technique through someone else. 

Although tired, the Hufflepuff donned his training gear-- the under clothing of his normal outfit. Training was often more intense than his battles, if only because it lasted longer, and he had long since learned that wearing the outer robe caused him to sweat out all his fluids long before he would be allowed to get a drink to continue. His hitae-ate, as always, was wrapped around his head, hiding the distinctive scar, and followed by the hunter-nin mask. The head protector created a nice little pocket of air between skin and mask, so that smelling his own breath wasn't quite as unbearable as it otherwise would have been. 

With senbon and kunai in hand, Haku swiftly followed his mentor out of their room, leaving the snoring Scarecrow behind. They did not need the dog to follow them around-- he could be a liability if their thoughts of him being an animagus were reality. They did not know who's side he was truly on, after all. 

So it was that Haku and Zabuza had been out on the Quiditch Pitch training for nearly three hours when Hermione finally made her way out into the snow. She was wearing a thick cloak that covered the bottom half of her face, the design looking vaguely familiar to Momochi. Reaching her new instructor, the Gryffindor had to raise an eyebrow-- she hadn't thought it was anywhere near warm enough for Zabuza to be without a shirt, but there he was, in nothing but a pair of muggle-style combat fatigues. Zabuza ignored her inquiring stare, instead motioning to Haku. The mist-nin cancelled the Hijutsu Makyou Hyoushou, tiredly allowing the mirrors to melt away. 

"Amazing," Granger's eyes had been locked on the demonic ice mirrors, "How did you do that? I've never seen such a spell." 

"That wasn't a spell," Haku tipped his head with a smile. It hadn't been a spell in the sense that she thought it was. It was a 'spell'-- a _jutsu_-- in the sense that without mana the technique would have been impossible. But it required chakra, as well, "That was my Bloodline Limit." 

Hermione's eyes widened, "Will... will I be able to do that?" 

"No," Zabuza crossed his arms with a snort, "Haku's Limit is based on his ability to manipulate ice. Yours is an eye-based ability. A _doujutsu_." 

"Eye-based...?" she frowned, "How do you figure that? All I can do is sense people and animals. through feelings in my skin." 

"That 'feeling' in your skin is like... a sixth sense," Haku tried to explain, "Expanding it and focusing it on your eyes should allow you to 'see' in all directions. You may be able to get to the point where it's not just a 'sense' of something in some direction, but where you can see everything from clothing color to the twitch of an eyelash." 

"There is a clan who claims the technique as their own," Zabuza interjected, "The Hyuuga Clan with their _Byakugan_ eyes. To best them with their own technique would be a true test of one's _doujutsu_ ability." 

Hermione was intrigued, "What other kinds of... '_doujutsu_' are there?" 

"There is the _Sharingan_," Behind his mask, Haku was frowning, "It allows one to 'see' how a _jutsu_ is preformed, and then to preform it yourself. When I faced Sasuke, he was able to see me while I was moving from mirror to mirror. No one else has ever seen me." 

"And there is the _Jagan_." 

"_Jagan?_" that came from both Haku and Hermione. The witch was surprised that her instructor's first student didn't know that one. 

Zabuza nodded, "The _Jagan_... I've never met a nin with it; nor have I heard of a clan with carried the trait. There has been a missing-nin or two reported to have been able to use it, but there is little fact, and many rumors about the Evil Eye." 

"Evil Eye?" Hermione worried her lip, "Wouldn't that mean that only someone who was... evil could use it?" 

"Don't be ridiculous," Haku snorted, "My _Hijutsu Makyou Hyoushou_ translates as Demonic Ice Mirrors. Do you assume that I am a demon, simply because of a name?" 

That caused the girl to pause for a moment, the red tinge to her cheeks barely visible above the black collar of her cloak, "Oh, right. I guess I wasn't thinking. Mister Zabuza, what does the _Jagan_ do?" 

"The rumors vary. Some say that it can cause living nightmares, where a length of time passes during which you have the nightmare. Some say that it allows a person to see within another's soul. I wouldn't know, having never come across anyone with it," the jounin shrugged, "I wouldn't worry about it, the _Jagan_ is so rare that I doubt even you would have it. No, you sound more like you have the _Byakugan_." 

"Right..." she nodded, "So, how am I going to learn how to use it?" 

"Well first," had the ninja's bandages been removed, Hermione would have shuddered at the viscious grin-- as it was, she shivered at the light in his eyes, "We're going to teach you the basics that any ninja learns." 

Hermione froze, "Nin... ninja?" 

"What," Haku was smirking behind his mask, content that his 'image' could not be broken, given the fact that no one could see him, "Did you think we were going to be teaching you how to be a fighter? We're Mist-nin, not Mist Samurai." 

* * *

Training had been a... painful experience, Hermione reflected with a wince. She rubbed her aching stomach muscles and hoped that she would never again have to do so many sit-ups. Unfortunately, she knew that she would be forced back out onto the Pitch at dawn the next morning, doing the exercises all over again. Zabuza had declared her woefully out of shape and had promptly forced her into the activity. As she was the one who had requested the training, she couldn't just not do it.

Still, the sit-ups and push-ups were heaven compared to his oh-so-brilliant idea of having her do jumping jacks while Haku threw senbon at her. The speed at which those needles could be thrown astounded her-- and that wasn't even at his full speed! She was grateful that the slightly younger boy had been called back into the castle in order to be shown the way to the Hufflepuff dorms, and where he would be staying for the remainder of the year. Once he'd been gone, she'd just had to complete one hundred chin-ups-- on the handle of Zabuza's Cleaver while he'd been holding it-- and then they had sat down to "talk _doujutsu_". 

Zabuza had run her through every meditation technique that he knew, in order to try and find her center, and then to figure out where the hell to go from there. The idea had been to learn how her "_chakra_"-- whatever that was-- flowed through her body. He had said that once she could see her "_inner coils_" then she could begin to understand how chakra powered the body. And then she could figure out how to 'see' the inner coils of other people. 

It was giving her a headache, trying to understand all these things that the two ninja used every day. It appeared that muggles may not have been as... incapable of defending themselves as she had once thought them to be. The Wizarding World, it seemed, didn't have the first clue as to the outside world of Muggles. And yet, she herself was a muggleborn, and she didn't know half of this stuff. 

Perhaps her parents had been keeping it from her because she was a witch? Was it some unspoken rule that they weren't allowed to inform wizards or witches of this... this chakra energy? 

The way chakra use had been described to her sounded so much like how magic was used... except without the magic. Momochi was a squib, and yet he could do all these things... it made her question what she had learned over five years in the Wizarding World. 

Did the ministry know of this? Did Dumbledore? Should she question him? If she did, and he /_didn't_/ know, there would be so many problems. What would she do? What would she say? If it was that easy to 'come across' in a book, Dumbledore would have certainly stumbled across it by now. But if he didn't know, and she brought it up... 

Worrying her lip, the girl absently dodged a hex from a Slytherin and continued on her way. One would think the snake house would have long since learned that hexing her wasn't something that was easy. First off she could sense the presences of everyone around her, and as such was usually keeping an eye out for such malicious acti-- wait a second. 

She'd dodged the hex, which wasn't unusual. What was unusal was that she had dodged a hex coming at her from /_behind_/ her. Even her enhanced senses didn't allow her to keep track of particular movements. She knew when someone moved, yes, but she didn't know the difference between shoving a hand in a pocket, and aiming a wand at someone. Frowning, she turned to look over her shoulder at the third year Slytherin who had assumed that she would be an easy target because she was alone so much. Obviously, it was untrue as he stared at her with wide eyes. 

Hermione scowled at him, and to her surprise, he went white as a ghost before racing off. What was that about? 

Never mind that, she shook off her confusion, and got back to her thoughts. Perhaps Mister Zabuza's meditation techniques had helped her out? They had been, after all, talking about getting her to recreate another person's Bloodline Limit-- a Limit that allowed one to see in all directions-- all three hundred and sixty degrees around her. It seemed unusal that she would be able to learn something so quickly-- at least without having to study, study, study-- but this was a ninja thing. Maybe it was because she wasn't learning strictly from a book? Well, whatever it was, she was certainly grateful for the help with the third year. Who knew what that spell would do? 

Absently, she muttered the password to the Fat Lady, entering the Gryffindor common room. So caught up in her thoughts, she didn't even notice the stares sent in her direction, or the whispers that followed her. Hell, she didn't even notice Ronald Weasley's latest loud announcement of why Haku couldn't be Harry Potter-- something hard to do, since she and Ron had been at odds since their first year. He had taken great glee in being able to 'beat the bookworm', while she had been furious over the fact that if not for him than she would never have been anywhere near that bathroom, or the troll. She would never have gotten the injuries that set her apart from everyone else. 

But today she just couldn't be bothered to care. 

With a sigh, she entered the fifth year girl's dorm, pulling off her cloak and tossing it onto her bed. The mirror shard Zabuza had given her caught her attention and she picked it up, running her fingers slowly down the sharp edges. Her blood welled up in the thin cuts, fascinating her for a moment before she stuck them into her mouth to suck the blood off. She didn't want to have to explain why her blood was all over the place. 

In her hand, the mirror shard shimmered slightly, and she found herself looking down at a strange boy. He had red hair and green eyes rimmed with black. He wore the oddest clothing she had ever seen-- Haku's pink kimono included-- and had an equally strange symbol over one eye. She sorta recognised it as an "asian" symbol, but had no idea if it was chinese or japanese or korean or some other language from that area. She wondered what it meant for a moment, before dismissing the thought. 

She smiled slightly at the image he presented, "He's kinda cute..." 

Watching the younger boy for a short period, she briefly wished for sound, though she had a suspscion she wouldn't have understood it anyways. He had a metal piece like Haku and Zabuza, though he wore it in a different place and there was a different symbol on it; she wondered what it meant, before deciding to ask the next day. She'd also see about getting them to teach her whatever asian language they liked speaking to each other with. Then all she'd have to do is figure out how to get the mirror shard to produce sound and she'd be able to sate her curiosity over the boy. 

She only looked away from the shard for a moment, but a moment was all it took. The boy was gone. There were no more images in the piece of glass. She scowled at it, wondering if it would ever show her him again, when she realised there was something wrong with her reflection. 

With great care, she studied her face, trying to figure out what seemed so out of place-- frustration mounting with every second that she couldn't figure it out. It was like one of those stupid eye puzzles; she'd never been able to get one to work properly. 

A strangled sound made it's way out of her throat as she realised what was wrong. The eyes staring out of her reflection weren't hers, and as shaking fingers reached up to make sure that they were in her own head, she wondered about the change. Was it a side effect of her _doujutsu_? 

"My eyes... there's no... no pupil..." 

* * *

End Part Nine 

Aren't I mean? You don't even get to learn what other funky stuff happened to Hermione's eyes for her doujutsu, other than she has no pupil. 

And look! It's Gaara! Yay Gaara!


	10. chapter 10

**Ran** - I have such plans for Gaara... =_smirks_= Was Dumbledore involved in your 'crush them to death' daydream? The poor students of Hogwarts... Albus should never have let Haku and Zabuza-san stay. Such trouble they cause... heh. Yes, Haku's serenity seems to be getting a little frayed, and he still hasn't had to deal with the students enmasse. I'm sure he'll be using his knowlegde of the human body to relieve a few people of their voices, maybe of consciousness. Hiding the bodies might be a bit hard, though... 

**May** - heh, I think my parents would have given up by now if my father wasn't as bloody stubborn as he happens to be. Ah, sorry, I meant that they'd switched the colors around-- black outlined in blue instead of blue outlined in black. Blue triangles on the left wrist, black triangles on the right. When I wrote it, I knew that was kinda confusing, but I guess I forgot to go an clarify it. Oops. I have thought about it, and we'll just have to see how it goes. For now though, neither party is interested in romance for various reasons, and if it comes about it'll be a slow process. I doubt he'll switch to school robes, which'll probably put him at odds with the teachers. Voldemort is still a large/powerful player, but he's... not quite the same bad guy as before. Oh such evil ideas I have. =_snickers_= You'll find out when everything gets explained to Haku and Zabuza. 

**Strata** - You're welcome. Zabuza-san's dream for the MoM is similar to his dream involving the Mizukage-- to over throw the Ministry and set up his own government. Maybe not with him in the leader's position, because that doesn't matter to him. What matters is that he sees the need for change, and has decided that democratic ways won't work with the MoM. Understandable, considering Lucius-through-Fudge seems to run it as a tyranny. 

**Nytingale** - I'm sure that as soon as he realises that she's going off to train with Zabuza instead of heading to the library every day, he'll call her in for a chat. That should prove to be an amusing scene! As for the Chuunin Exam... hehe, I have plans. Mwaha. 

**DracoStarbo** - =_grins_= She's a ninja, she'll find a way. Yeah, I figured that without Harry neither of them would have had the incentive to become friends-- let alone be the people they were with him there. So I changed them, but I tried not to change them into completely different people. Making them OCs wouldn't be fun. Hehe. =_chuckles_= That marriage proposal... well, we'd spent a month or two talking ((_me in these notes, he in reviews_)) and he suddenly popped out with "Will you marry me?". It was amusing, much more so than the threats I've gotten with the stories on my other account. Yessssssss, strawberries are the proper rulers of the earth. 

**Xyverz** - I'm glad that I've got you hooked again. I like throwing people off track, because that's how I get people to stick around. Mwaha. 

**Black myst** - Ooooh yeah. =_evil grin_= Hermione has a long way to go-- especially to get to the physical level Zabuza wants her at, as fast as he wants it. The pictures were wonderful, thank you! 

**maleficus-lupus** - =_taps her chin_= Hmmm, I don't know if I can make him 'good', since Draco isn't a good-guy, ever, and is known for being a prat. I could pull some strings for some of the differences that would have occured without Harry there, and play around until he's just... indifferent to people, but I don't know about not making him 'bad'. 

**Akua** - Ah-ah-ah! You will learn what happens to Hermione's eyes later ((_although, since we talked yesterday, you can probably guess_)). I doubt it for her telling-- this is something she can do on her own, without having the professors hover. I know from experience that when an accident occurs on school grounds when you're little, the teachers spend however many more years you're there hovering and forgetting the fact that you've grown up and taken care of yourself. Hermione, especially this Hermione, doesn't strike me as someone who would enjoy being in that position for five years. Your idea will pop up, although not immediately. I'm still working on the "setting things up" part. You have many questions. They'll be answered... next chapter. hehe! 

**Kanashii** - =_chuckles_= An amusing image, the one of the twins. I can see them doing that, too. It's definitely painful-- although I think I'm just an idiot when I exercise, since I do it like Rock Lee does. I love Rock Lee, but the way he ((_and therefore I_)) exercise is just stupidly painful... Nice guesses, but none of those are close. Here's a hint. Only two letters change-- and one of them is the 'M'. Gaara rocks-- I met this Gaara cosplayer at Animethon that was the best Gaara ever; she was so psycho. =_pauses for a moment, then snickers_= Oh god, I just suddenly had this image of Hermione and Itachi staring each other down from over top of their over-sized collars. Heh. 

**Chibi-Naru** - Ah, okay, sorry, I guess I read it wrong or something. Still, they might accidentally kill Remus if they met up with him in wolf-mode-- they don't know he's a werewolf, afterall. 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Ten  
The Itch

* * *

She had refused to believe her eyes. It had to have been a trick of the light. Squeezing her eyes closed and taking several deep breaths, she felt her world contract around her-- and suddenly she was back to just feeling the presense of those around her, instead of having an unconscious map of the area surrounding her fed into her brain. It was comforting to be back at where she had been.

And when her eyes opened again, her pupils were back. Her pounding heart had calmed. 

It was a trick of the light, and nothing more. 

Still, she kept to herself for the rest of the night, forgoing even dinner for fear that her eyes might change again. It was not something that she really wanted to consider. Hopefully, she would understand what happened before classes started up again-- or rather, Hermione thought as she pushed herself out of bed the next morning, when the other students returned. The Hogwarts Express would be bringing the students back from their Yule-time holidays that evening, and Granger would really rather prefer that she didn't have to deal with questions about her eyes. 

Pain throughout her body caused her to stumble a time or two on her way down the stairs into the common room. The exercises from the day before were seriously taking there toll, and it hurt so badly... but she shook off the pain. She had agreed-- no asked-- for this, and dammit, she was going to go through with it come hell or high water. Hermione used the wall as a crutch as she made her way down to the Quidditch Pitch to go about another day of exercises. She was almost out the door when there was a rather loud bark from behind her. Whirling, the ninja-in-training held a hand to her heart and stared into the eyes of a huge, black dog. 

"A... a grim...?!" 

"Hermione, meet Scarecrow," Haku's voice came from behind the dog, and the girl looked up. Haku's eyebrows rose as he found himself confronted by pupil-less eyes, "Byakugan?" 

Trying to breath properly, Hermione gave Haku a cool stare, but Zabuza's crossing over into the 'range' of her senses had her looking up. Her instructor was just coming down the stairs-- obviously his rooms were further away than the Hufflepuff dorms-- and his laughter cut off her chance to respond to the annoying mist-nin, "Did that mutt scare you, girl?" 

"What gives you that idea, Mister Zabuza?" 

"Your eyes," Zabuza was smirking, "Bloodline doujutsu are known for coming out due to intense emotions." 

She scowled at him, annoyed that he hadn't seen fit to inform her of such the day before. She wouldn't have had to freak out over the strange eyes if she had been informed. She hated being caught off guard-- it was the antithesis to everything she was. Her ability to sense the world around her cut back on surprises nearly one hundred fold. Zabuza was still grinning at her when she stomped out into the snowdrifts just past the doors. The two mist-nin and the nin-dog followed her, amused by her reaction. 

Once they were out at the pitch, and Hermione was painfully beginning her "daily" exercises, the girl's mind drifted back to her thoughts from the day before, "Mister Zabuza?" 

"What is it, girl?" he had planted his cleaver into the ground and was fighting Haku kunai to kunai. 

"What does that metal thing mean?" 

Zabuza bent over backwards to avoid a swipe, planting one hand and using it as a pivot to try and sweep Haku's legs out, "What metal thing?" Haku had jumped over his swinging legs, so Zabuza pushed off the ground into an airborne spin, kunai out. The knife rang loudly against Haku's. 

"That one you wear around your forehead!" The words were uttered painfully as she slowly moved through her sit-ups. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be doing much actual physical work until she could get through her daily exercises without pain. 

"She means the _hitae-ate_, Zabuza-san," Haku murmured, jumping back to fling a handful of senbon at his master. Several of the needles sunk into Zabuza's arms around the place where Kakashi had planted the kunai over a month earlier. The man hissed in pain-- the area was still tender-- and threw himself forewards to ram his shoulder into Haku's gut. 

"I know what she meant, Haku," he drew back, hands flashing through the seals needed to use his _Kirigankure no Jutsu_. The snow around them began to melt slightly, in order to be fashioned into the all encompassing fog. Though Hermione could no longer see him, hearing him was not a problem, "The _hitae-ate_ is used to denote who is a ninja and who is not." 

"So what does the symbol on them mean?" She grunted as she rolled over and began her push-ups, "I've see your lines, Scarecrow's swirlie thing, and an hourglass--" 

"Where on earth did you see the symbol of the Hidden Village of Sand?" Haku burst out, giving away his location. Hermione was startled to see the boy going flying past her nose as she went up. Eyes wide, she saw Zabuza touch the ground in front of her for a moment, before he was off again. 

"I saw it in the shard Mister Zabuza gave me," she didn't know why, but she felt like she should refrain from mentioning the cute guy with redhair. There was just something about him... it called to her, but it also told her to keep him quiet. 

"The symbol," Zabuza's voice echoed from every direction, "is dependant on the village you come from. Haku and I wear the symbol of the Hidden Village of the Mist. Scarecrow bares the symbol of the Hidden Village of the Leaf. The hourglass is for Sand. There are other villages, like the Sound, the Grass, the Cloud... but you have no need to learn of those just yet. Concentrate on bringing your physical body up to the level needed to compete with Haku in _taijutsu_. We can work on _genjutsu_ and _ninjutsu_ later. Your meditations for _doujutsu_ are to be begun as soon as you finish your exercises." 

"Yes sir," it was sighed, but that was more due to lack of breath than anything else. She didn't know what she had been expecting when she had asked for Zabuza's training but this certainly wasn't it. 

* * *

On a train headed towards Hogwarts, a set of redheaded twins-- both Seventh Years-- let out an explosive breath as they tucked themselves into a private compartment way in the front. Most students prefered to ride in the back, where the rooms were larger, but for now these two were just pleased to have some time alone.

Fred Weasley made as though he was moping his forehead, though he was doing no such thing. George Weasley sprawlled himself out on a seat, allowing a bone tired weariness take him over, "How tiresome..." 

Fred raised an eyebrow, "What is it this time?" 

George had closed his eyes, "The mana drain is terrible, Gred." 

"Come now Forge it can't be that bad!" Fred took a moment to wish he could understand better what his brother went through each day for him, but decided that it was better that he didn't. The older of the twins always looked so worn out when it was just the two of them, and Fred always felt so guilty about it. 

George gave Fred a /_look_/ and the younger twin sighed, crossing his arms, "Okay fine, maybe it is. Look, I could always--" 

"No," his brother shook his head, just as Fred knew he would, "We're graduating this year, Fred! We've just got to get used to this!" 

"You'll never pass the N.E.W.T.S. if you keep pushing yourself like this!" Fred didn't hesitate to yell at his brother. Sometimes it was the only thing that got through to him, "Look, George, I don't care! You're killing yourself just trying to keep both of us alive!" 

"I'm not letting you just... just fade away, Fred!" it was a familiar argument, one of which George could argue in his sleep. He wasn't even conscious of the words he said, mind going over just why they were having the argument in the first place. After recieving the money they had won off the World Cup-- they were lucky that someone had seen Ludo trying to passing them Lephrachaun Gold and informing everyone nice and loudly about it-- the pair had planned to open a joke shop. Of course, they had wanted some truly spectacular jokes for the shelves and had been experimenting. 

Well, one of those experiments had gone wrong, and Fred had gotten... well, stuck implied that there was some way to fix it. There wasn't-- they'd been trying for a year and a half, and Fred was still little more than a doll. Sure, he could move and talk on his own, and he had his own mind, but it was all dependant on George. His brother was giving up his own life energy on top of his magical energies to make Fred seem... normal. So that instead of the little six inch doll that floated along around chest height, he had the appearance of a real person. That he felt like a real person, and could interact with the real world. 

George was taxing himself keeping his brother as alive as possible, and Fred was terrified that it would cost him his brother. He didn't care that he may have to live out his life as a little floating, talking doll. What he cared about was his brother, and George couldn't seem to see that what he was doing to himself in order to help Fred was only making the younger twin's heart break. It was not a good situation for either brother to be in-- especially since they had been very careful to keep the accident from their parents and siblings. 

Neither was particularly pleased with the thought of ending up at the Ministry or Saint Mungos and being turned into human experiments. They'd had enough of that for one life time, thankyouverymuch. 

"Look!" Fred's voice finally cut through George's runaway thoughts, "There's got to be a better way, George!" 

"Like what? We don't even know where to start looking for information!" 

"Then why don't we ask someone who does?" 

George blinked a few times, startled by this new twist to the same old argument, "You have someone in mind?" 

"That girl... you know, the one Ronnikins is always complaining about. The one who spends all her time in the library?" 

"Hemmy?" 

"Harmony?" 

"Hemery?" 

"Eh, something like that," Fred shrugged, "Whatever her name is, rumor has it that she knows where every book in the library is-- I'm sure she can help us! And to top it off, she doesn't have anyone to go blabbing the situation to; even if she did, I don't think she would." 

"You know Gred, I think you've got something!" 

"I do? I do! Of course I do, Forge! I'm me!" 

* * *

End Part Ten 

Well. That was certainly... enlightening. Fred and George make the sense, while Hermione is keeping Gaara to herself. And I suddenly had this wicked idea for the plot, that I must go off and laugh maniacally for awhile. And then return to pinch Oreo-kun's cheeks and say "Ut-oh! Doesn't look like you get to do what you do!" 

I'll leave it at that for now. Mwaha.


	11. chapter 11

**Ran** - You and Strata both. I think you're spending too much time together. =_chuckles_= But yeah, I was kind thinking of Kankuro. And I use "mendoukusai" alot myself, which is actually kinda weird now that I think about it ((_I'm not supposed to speak japanese in front of my father. He gets pissed off by it. I don't really know why_)) Of course, Shikamaru is a lot more lazy than George is. George is just worn out. Ouuu, what a nice mental image, Oreo and Naruto fighting side by side... actually, that's kinda disturbing, but still cool. Not likely to happen in this fic, though. 'Cause, you know, the plot won't let it. 

**DracoStarbo** - It's Fred, and yes, he is a doll. For some reason I keep picturing him as one of those anime-plushies. Hehe, I love taking things literally. It can cause such... fun things! And yeah, Molly would be frightening if she ever found out. Which is why she doesn't know. Of course, the fact that they've already kept it from her for a year and a half won't make things better... Yeah, he does have some other friends, they just weren't at Hogwarts for the Christmas Hols. Ron just didn't want to go home and see Percy, so he stayed behind. 

**beth** - You don't know Naruto? oh you poor dear. Here, join my class with Kaaera, and explainations will abound! No, seriously, Naruto is an anime about a 12 year old ninja named, you guessed it, Naruto. He has some interesting adventures, and in one of them he meets Haku and Zabuza-- or in this world, Harry Potter and Rodrick Lestrange. Stuff happens, and Naruto ends up witnessing the deaths of both men, which makes him sad, even though they ((_well, Haku_)) killed a teammate. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I sometimes forget that there are people who aren't fans of Naruto like I am. 

**Strata** - Well, Ran saw the same thing. I don't see anything wrong with it, persay. Just amusing. I mean, come on, I doubt that there are any ShikamaruxKankuro fics out there ((_yet_)) and their Lovechild George might just be the inspiration anyone needs! =_snickers_= Okay, seriously, I hadn't even realised I'd made George use Shikamaru's line while I was making him into another puppeteer. You have Byakugan-like powers of observation? Since when? 

**Akua** - Yes, I know it was a bit mean, but there is PLOT to be had! =_waves a banner that says "I finally figured out the plot!" Before reading it and changing it to "Look! Plot!"_= Heh, I can't see Haku and Zabuza paired up with anyone from hogwarts meself. And while I'm a strict NaruSakuSasu fan, I do enjoy the occassional HakuSaku or KakaSaku I come across. I'll think about it. ((_Okay, maybe I'm not _/that/ _'strict', since I like pairing Naruto up with every female in the series, and some males, but Sakura is a strictly Naruto/Sasuke girl._)) Yeah, I know they're getting shorter. But now that I've located the plot they can get longer! Yay! 

**Kanashii** - =_snickers_= I had the same image. There he is, yelling away at Kisame because Hermione stole his look. She might not have the ponytail, but he'd still go on about her stealing 'his' look. Gaara rocks. But I'm sorry, he's got a part to play, so you're going to have to let him go and let Hermione drool all over him. Mmmm, the Gaara pictures on devArt rock. There's this really cute one of him in a panda-suit ((_I have it favorited_)). Well, I haven't gotten any screams, just Ran and Strata's observations of George the Lovechild of Shikamaru and Kankuro... dude, are you kidding, I'm always posing like Rock Lee. I even have stupid speeches like Rock Lee! Although I have auburn pigtails and long blonde bangs and pink sunglasses instead of bowl-cut hair and wide eyes, so I don't look quite as strange. I still get told to stop doing that, though. hehe. 

**Chibi-Naru** - Look! The Apocolypse is chasing you! 

**Nytingale** - Heh, just wait and see, your questions are answered in this very chapter. Lucky you! 

**Kaaera** - =_grins_= Back when I was in high school, it never felt like high school. Not one of those three years gave me the "I'm in high school, I'm almost an adult!" vibe. I have no idea why it never clicked-- there was just never any difference of feeling between high school and the rest of my schooling years; even between when I went to college and high school. It was weird... Yay for joining itchfanfic! Hehe, doujutsu eyes are fun to play with. And I can do whatever I want with hers ((_at least until I decide on her bloodline. Looks like it's leaning towards Byakugan_)) 

**Zosa** - I was wondering where you'd gotten off too... glad to see you have your monitor back. =_chuckles_= Yeah, it can be tiring. Lord knows the number of times I fell asleep on my bus ride back home. 

**Black myst** - Well, if they don't really know her, they don't really have any incentive to remember her name. Yeah, her eyes work like Sasuke's Sharingan, since neither of them have full control. ((_personal theory is that once you have full control, the eyes remain forever locked into doujutsu mode-- the Hyuuga and Itachi seem to support this theory._)) Yay for pictures! I know, it's so sad isn't it? It makes me cry every time! 

**Irihi** - =_chuckles_= So FYD is your morning fix now? How nice! Oh yeah, pain is a big part of getting fit again-- especially when you're doing a mass of exercises like Zabuza-san's. I swear, that man is trying to turn Hermione into Rock Lee, except that, you know, he doesn't know Rock Lee. 

**May** - Yay! =_dances with you_= There's a comic store in the same mall as my new place of work ((_I got a job! I got a job! Yay!_)) but it doesn't have any Naruto. Or Shaman King. Or anything I want to read, really. ((_Dammit! I want my Cresent Moon and Princess Ai!_)) =_sigh_= Oh well... and you're quite welcome. Explaining things is... well, maybe not fun, but something I can do well. Hehe. No, LW still doesn't want to work properly for me. Stupid thing... 

Hmm, these notes are getting long. I may switch them to the end of the chapter... 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Eleven  
The Itch

* * *

Practice had been cut short by the fact that they had been informed that attendance to the 'return after yuletide holidays' feast-- also known as the New Year Feast-- was mandatory. This left both ninja scowling, and the ninja-in-training silently thanking god. It wouldn't do for her new instructor to discover that she wasn't exactly happy with the situation. Not that she'd stop-- it was just that trying to meditate, while hanging upside down from a tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with Haku taking the occasional pot-shot at her, was not a pleasant way to spend the evening.

So while the other two griped-- loudly in Zabuza's case, mentally in Haku's-- Hermione was preparing herself for the feast. This included scowling into her mirror for several long minutes, attempting to force away her _doujutsu_. It wasn't really working, as she just kept getting angrier and angrier every time she made an attempt and failed-- the high emotions were only making it /_worse_/. Hermione was practically screeching in annoyance, before she caught sight of a red flicker in the mirror shard she'd taken to carrying with her everywhere. She turned her fascinated gaze to the image in the shard, and smiled. There was that cute redhead again; maybe he could make her day better. 

She spent almost ten minutes watching him sit on the roof of a house, before something happened. To her shock, she found herself giggling as the man who interrupted his silent vigil was rather abruptly destroyed. It was kind of disturbing to realize she thought the gruesome death by sand was amusing. With a sigh, she regretfully put the shard away and looked up into her bathroom mirror. 

Her eyes had returned to normal. 

Smiling, Hermione made her way out of the bathroom and headed down to the Great Hall. Every few minutes, she let out a giggle, thinking of the man's face just before his death. Somehow, the homicidal lunatic part only made the redhead cuter. Maybe she'd been hanging around those two ninja a bit too much... 

* * *

Momochi Zabuza was not a happy man. Not by any stretch of the imagination-- he hadn't been happy since the moment Albus Dumbledore had stepped into his own office to greet the two intruders. He just knew this was a waste of time-- wizards were nothing but bigoted, selfish brats who think they can lord their power over everyone else. Why the hell did he let Haku talk him into this venture?

The reason for his sour mutterings and various levels of death glare, was that Haku was no longer with him. Oh, sure, he was used to not having Haku at his side twenty-four seven. What he wasn't used to was not having Haku there when he slept. Not since he had first picked up the depressed Harry Potter, had he slept alone. It wasn't a matter of love or romance, or of possessiveness. Nothing of the sort-- it was simply that Haku made him feel comfortable enough to close his eyes and /_sleep_/, without having to worry. He was kind of like a safety blanket in that way, and with the boy now in the Hufflepuff dorms, Zabuza was without said blanket. 

And he was cold, dammit. 

It had only been one night so far, and already he was feeling uneasy with the prospect of spending another without his weapon at his side. He never slept without being well protected-- his Cleaver was always propped on the bed beside him, and he always had a pair of kunai in hand when he slept. Keeping Haku close was just another way of keeping a weapon near by. 

Of course, thanks to that blonde haired brat, Zabuza couldn't think of Haku as a tool or weapon anymore. It didn't stop him from /_using_/ him like one, but he'd never be able to think of him like that again. When he'd thought Haku dead, it had broken something inside him. Just being able to tell that his tool, his weapon, /_his_/ Haku was still alive made him feel better. 

Grumpily, he joined his young protégé at the Hufflepuff table, awaiting the arrival of the student body just now returning from vacation. Just for that, he'd propped his Cleaver up in the seat on his left side, and kept Haku on his right. They were seated right in the middle of the table. 

"You are tired, Zabuza-san," Haku's words were soft, barely heard even to Zabuza's ears. They were not a question, and Momochi smirked slightly. How well Haku knew him. 

"I slept without my weapon," they both knew that Zabuza meant Haku, though anyone who overheard them would most likely have had their eyes drawn to the massive sword. 

"And the weapon without it's owner," Haku dipped his head slightly, "It was... uncomfortable." They hadn't had a chance to talk of it this morning, having gone straight from sleep into training, and trying to draw out Hermione's _doujutsu_. Now, while they still had a chance of anonymity, was the best time to discuss the matter. 

Zabuza nodded, frowning slightly, "Nightmares?" 

Haku's eyes were distant, recalling some horror that only he knew, "Terrible ones. I woke the two boys in the common room from the fifth year dorms, last night." Momochi winced. Haku had had some absolutely horrible nightmares as a child; were they coming back now?" 

"Was it...?" Zabuza made a few gestures with his hands, using standard ANBU sign language to finish the sentence. There was only one person in any world that had those particular symbols to make up his name. Haku looked away, before nodding slowly. Thinking of the man who took his parents from him involved many mixed feelings. On the one hand, there was carefully bottled rage at him for taking away his parents before he could know them. On the other was gratitude beyond belief that he didn't have to suffer the guilt of killing his parents, as he suffered the guilt of killing his aunt's family. 

Zabuza cursed like a sailor, bringing several questioning gazes onto him, as the room began to fill with students. Furious dark eyes turned on his boy, "What was it this time? Who did he kill?" 

"No one," Haku frowned, staring down at his plate in confusion, "I don't understand it. I usually see him killing my parents, or watching and goading me on as I kill my aunt and uncle--" 

"--and sometimes he has you kill me, yes, I know Haku. Why was this nightmare different?" 

"Because he was... facing off against someone. I'm not sure... I saw slit pupils and fangs. I'm sure I've seen them somewhere else before... but not only that, but I saw someone using a _doujutsu_ on Uchiha, and someone else-- a bushin? I'm not sure-- knock Naruto-kun out of danger before he could do anything. It's confusing..." 

"Naruto?" Zabuza actually looked worried. He liked the kid, one you got past all the bluster and bravado. He'd make a great ninja some day, that is... if he survived that long. 

"Yes, Naruto-kun," Haku gave a sharp nod, nipping at his bottom lip with worry, "there was a lot of dark chakra-- not the evil chakra that Naruto-kun produces, just dark. Like it's been tainted, while Naruto-kun's is pure. The chakra is reaching out to Uchiha, but that _doujutsu_ user is in the way. He is tainted like the other chakra, but it's not as... deep. I'm not sure. It was very confusing." 

"I'll bet," Zabuza muttered, giving Haku's hand a light squeeze, before turning his attention to Dumbledore, who was now standing and ready to announce whatever it was he wanted to announce. As the old man opened his mouth, Zabuza sub vocalized, "I'm coming to Hufflepuff with you tonight." 

Haku smiled. 

* * *

"...and finally, I'd like to introduce to you a late comer to Hogwarts," George hadn't really been listening to Albus' speech, trying to figure out how to approach the bushy-haired girl two years his junior. At least, he hadn't been paying attention until Albus waved at the Hufflepuffs and introduced, "Harry Potter and his guardian Ro... Zabuza Momochi!"

Fred blinked a few times, looking over at George. They communicated with simple gestures and movements, _'Ro'? _

'Don't know. Whatever it was, Momochi looked pissed for a moment' 

'So I saw. Look how close he is to Potter!' 

'They're practically attached at the hip!' 

'I wonder if it's the attention...' 

'It probably is...' 

'Distraction time?' 

'Distraction time.' 

With that decided, George took a brief moment to rearrange what 'strands' of mana were keeping Fred Fred, then to mutter a short incantation under his breath. He didn't even notice how Potter and Zabuza were staring at him in surprise, or the pupil-less gaze of a younger Gryffindor. No, he was more interested in getting this prank to go off smoothly. Fred lending him an extra cord of mana helped. 

Because suddenly, birds seemed to explode into being from the candle-wicks, all singing loudly, and horribly out of key. It wasn't just anything that they were singing either. No, they were singing an old muggle song, that had several of the muggleborns and half-and-halfs snickering. 

"Bad to the Bone" was practically being screeched by the birds. The distraction gave enough time for Harry and Zabuza to slip away from Hufflepuff unnoticed by all but those looking directly at them. And the three others that had been quickly followed suit, meeting up outside the Great Hall doors. 

Potter and Momochi were still staring at the boys in surprise, and the bushy-haired girl with no pupils looked torn between laughing and joining Potter and Momochi in the land of the surprised. George gave a flashy little bow, "It is a pleasure to meet the great Harry Potter for whom--" 

"--we created that display for, should he ever arrive at Hogwarts!" Fred continued, grinning a bit nervously. Zabuza's stare was unnerving. 

"My name," Harry murmured, somewhat tensely, "is Haku, not Harry. Please use it." 

"Ah!" Fred nodded sagely, "My brother and I--" 

"--Know exactly what you--" 

"--mean! I'm Fred--" 

"--and I'm George--" 

"--But we like to be--" 

"--called Forge--" 

"--and Gred!" Hermione's head and bounced back and forth between the twins for a moment, before she moaned loudly. 

"That was painful. Don't finish each other's sentences again." 

"I'm sorry--" George began. 

"--But that's really--" 

"--quite impossible." 

"It is not!" Hermione huffed, about to say more, when Momochi's hand landed on her shoulder, "Mister Zabuza?" 

"Use your eyes, Granger," the man was staring hard at George, "and tell me what you see." 

The twins looked confused as Hermione's blank-seeming eyes switched back and forth between the two, raking them over so hard, they almost felt pain. Finally, she shook her head in confusion, "I don't see anything, Mister Zabuza." 

He man snorted, "Don't use the _Byakugan_, girl. Use the _Sharingan_." 

"I don't know how to use the _Sharingan_," she snapped back, before flushing abruptly, "AH! Sorry Mister Zabuza! I didn't mean to yell." 

Zabuza held back a laugh. God this girl amused him, "Then learn to. Haku, tell me, what do you see of these boys?" 

"I see nothing," Haku murmured, "But I can sense their chakra-- or rather, his." Haku pointed to George, while Zabuza nodded and Hermione looked confused. 

"I don't sense anything strange. Both of them have chakra and mana..." 

"But they only have one set of chakra, while they have separate sets of mana." 

George scratched his head, "You sure that's not just because we're twins?" 

"No," Zabuza let his laugh out, "Aside from the mana-- which I can't sense, so it's a moot point-- the only difference between you two and a puppeteer with his puppet, is that you," he pointed to Fred, "can move on your own, as well as are capable of talking." 

The twins looked between each other nervously, before Fred sighed, "Do you have some place private where we could talk?" 

* * *

End part Eleven. 

And here we go, finally beginning to have hints of the plot. Mwaha.


	12. chapter 12

**Ran** - Why does everyone assume that Hermione has the Sharingan, just because Zabuza-san wants her to have it? Where's this fic/what's it called? Sounds interesting. 

**Nytingale** - Fred... maybe 

**May** - _snickers_ And the award for a review that's not really a review goes to... 

**Akua** - _chuckles_ Bad to the Bone is a wonderful song. I'm just trying to figure out how the hell Fred and George learned of it. ((_Arthur maybe? Hmm..._)) I took a little bit of your advice for how to run this chapter, but changed bits of it too, because it amused me. Mwaha. Yes, I'm sure Zabuza-san will frighten the Hufflepuffs. He can be kinda scary, especially without his bandages. 

**Strata** - No, Hermione doesn't have the Sharingan-- go back a few chapters to when Zabuza was talking to Haku about training her. He wants her to have the Sharingan; she doesn't have it, which is why she's all snippy. _blinks a few times, then shakes her head_ You and Ran sound far to much alike, you know that? ...and here I thought you were "Darth Strata", not a ninja. 

**Chibi-Naru** - Yes, yes I was kidding. Your last review made me do it. She does indeed have a crush-- not the /_best_/ person to have a crush on, but she has it. Aiyah... 

**Xyverz** - Fred and George rock far to much for me to kill them off, so don't worry about that. Worry about all the people they can prank with one of them as a doll. I mean, who the hell expects a /_doll_/? 

**Kaaera** - _snickers_ How delightful. Haku and Zabuza were uncomfortable-- so they left when the distraction occured. Fred and George had intended it to be used to take all the attention off of Harry-Haku, not to be used to escape the Great Hall, but the ninja used it as such. Hermione had been watching them from Gryffindor table, and decided if they could leave, so could she. As for the twins, they followed Haku and Zabuza so that they could talk to 'Harry'. 

**Akuma-sama** - Yes, I did think about that stuff, don't you worry. I even have a plot. It's a good plot... I think. Meh, it's a good plot if I say it is. Why thank you, I thought so too. Hermione with the Byakugan will be cause for some... interesting scenes, wouldn't you think so? 

**Irihi** - Sirius is... _points to this chapter_ In there somewhere. He was... sleeping, I think, in the last one. Albus has his reason for introducing Haku as Harry. Being stubborn is one of them. If you're going to download episodes, try the AnimeONE-ANBU subs-- they only go up to episode 95 or so, since AnimeONE and ANBU had differences and split, but ANBU is still subbing the episodes after that. You can get them through bittorrent off of animelab dot com. That's where I got mine-- you can download up to episode 90 in groups of ten episodes. 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Twelve  
The Itch

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Hermione looked between the twins, "You are using your magic to keep your brother real," she pointed to Fred, and he shifted her hand so that she was pointing at George, "and you," her finger returned to pointing at Fred, "are nothing more than a magic doll?"

"You've got it," Fred shrugged, "Mistakes happen, this one was just--" 

"--a bit more extreme than we had expected," George finished, sinking deeper into his chair. They'd found a nice little room just outside of the Great Hall, which to the two ninja's continued relief had a normal door. George and Fred had quite quickly, and without very many details outline their problem, seeing as the girl who they had originally planned on asking for help was there. 

"Prove it," Hermione huffed, crossing her arms. She didn't know if she could believe the outrageous story-- turning a man into a doll. It that particular spell was possible, it would have been used before. It would certainly be easier than trying to lock people up in Azkaban. 

"Very well," Fred grinned widely at her, nodding to George. The older twin let go of the firmly grasped strands of mana that kept Fred solid first, before slowly releasing the strands that gave him his current appearance. He let all but one strand go-- he was afraid that if he let anymore be released, he'd loose his brother completely-- which gave the six inch doll it's physical resemblance to Fred Weasley, instead of just being a straw-doll with red string for hair. Haku, Zabuza and Hermione stared at the doll for several long moments, before Momochi scratched the underside of his chin. 

"What do you think, Haku?" the words were spoken in japanese, Zabuza not wanting to give anyone any hints of what he may do. The younger ninja frowned delicately thoughts racing. After a long moment, the boy nodded slightly. 

"He seems to be using his mana in the way we, as ninja, use chakra. Though his mana is a single pure energy, unlike our chakra which is a mixture of two types of energy," the master of ice had an idea, but he didn't know if Zabuza would go for it. Then again, he hadn't honestly thought that Zabuza would take Hermione up on her want to be trained, "Perhaps we could train him." 

"Don't you mean them?" 

"I have no idea if the doll can learn this; I don't even know if George can," Haku sighed, "For all we know, pureblood wizards can't access chakra like we do-- you are mana-less, and I am of mixed blood, remember?" 

Momochi nodded, ignoring the confused looks being sent between the twins and Hermione, "You are proposing that we train him to use mana in place of chakra." 

"I am. It would be, of course, an experiment. But then, isn't Hermione an experiment as well?" 

Zabuza gave a bark of laughter that startled all but Haku. The boy just looked mildly interested in whatever they had been talking about. Hermione made another note to learn whatever language it was that they were speaking, "That she is. Alright then, since you're so hung up on training him to use his mana as chakra, you've gotten yourself a student." 

Haku raised an eyebrow in question, and Zabuza finally responded in english, "You're a hunter-nin." 

"Indeed," the boy laughed lightly, turning to George, "While Zabuza-san is training Hermione, you will be training under me." 

"Er..." Fred looked as confused as possible for a magical doll hovering five feet in the air. George mimicked his expression. 

"What do you mean... training under you?" 

Haku folded his hands rather demurely in front of him, looking for all the world like a young woman. It was both kind of creepy and yet had such a possibility for pranks that George was wondering if Haku was going to be teaching him how to be a woman. Thankfully, the ninja in question wasn't a mind reader, and didn't have any idea what George was thinking. 

"I will teach you a better way of..." he didn't want to say 'controlling', as Fred and George /_were_/ brothers, "...sharing your mana with your brother. Atop that, we shall see if you have any talents for _taijutsu, genjutsu_ and _ninjutsu_. Perhaps you will also have a bloodline limit." 

"A what?" Neither twin had noticed Hermione getting dragged out of the room by Zabuza, who had apparently decided that it was once more time to train. 

Haku frowned slightly, trying to think of the best way to explain this to a pair of purebloods, before settling on the easiest. It may be a lie, but it was the best he could come up with, "It is a type of magic limited to your family line. No one outside it can learn to... cast magic in that way, thanks to something in the genetics." 

George blinked a few times, then shrugged, "That's rather interesting." 

* * *

"Get off of me you stupid mutt!" the bellow rang through the almost empty hall, and Remus Lupin had to blink in surprise. Was that Mister Momochi? Wasn't he supposed to be at dinner? He, himself, wasn't simply because of the full moon the night before had drained him far to much. He wasn't quite up to dealing with all the students of Hogwarts right then.

Miss Granger's laughter followed the bellow, and the werewolf padded closer in curiosity. What was going on over there? Poking his head around the corner, Remus had a brief moment of nostalgia-- how many times had the Marauders peeked around corners like this?-- before shaking it off. His eyes lit up with amusement as he saw the tall man laid low by a simple dog. The large black beast was standing on the downed man's chest, some of the white bandages Zabuza wore around his face held loosely in his jaws. 

His tail was wagging back and forth rapidly, and he was stubbornly refusing to move, despite the fifth year who had her hands wrapped around some sort of blue bandana-- was that a flash of silver?-- around his neck. He couldn't tell, but it sort of looked like the bandanas Harry and Zabuza liked to wear. 

"Dammit Scarecrow!" Zabuza seemed content to keep shouting at the dog, "What the hell was that for?! Haku's not even with me!" 

"Calm down, Mister Zabuza," Hermione was trying to muffle her laughter in the dog's fur, "I'm sure he was just happy to see you." 

"Happy my ass," he grumbled, pushing the dog off and standing up to brush off the seat of his pants, "That mutt's been following me ever since Kakashi tried to kill me." 

"To be fair," Hermione returned, lifting her head and shooting the man a smirk, "You tried to kill him first." 

The man looked away in annoyance, before shaking his head, "We don't have time for this. Scarecrow, Haku's back by the Great Hall, go protect him or something. Granger, I'm not finished with you." 

"Yes, yes, I know," she sighed, letting the dog go, but not before she ruffled his fur, "Are you sure this much exercise is healthy for me?" 

"At this stage of your developement?" Zabuza shrugged, "No, not really." Hermione gave a startled squawk, before racing off down the hall after him. Remus chuckled lightly at the scene. Harry's friend certainly weren't normal. 

Shaking his head, he was about to pop back around the corner and continue back to his room, when he realised he had the dog's attention on him. Scarecrow was staring at him, and Remus frowned. There was something distinctly familiar about that dog... 

And then, for the first time in Remus' presence, the dog stood up to it's full height. Lupin's eyes widened in shock, and he barely managed to eek out a "Sirius?!" before the grim-like dog had bounded out down a side hall. By the time Lupin managed to gather himself and chase after him, the dog was gone. The werewolf's heart pounded. 

Sirius was still alive-- it had been assumed, after six years without sign of him, that he had died in the fridged waters surrounding Azkaban during his escape attempt. But... Sirius was alive. Sirius was with Harry. 

But that didn't make any sense. Didn't Sirius want to kill Harry? Hadn't he escaped because there had been a sighting of Harry, and he'd wanted to finish the job he'd started with the boy's parents? What was going on? 

Well, whatever was going on, he had to report Sirius' presence to Dumbledore. The whys and hows could be figured out later. 

* * *

Once the birds had been banished, and everyone settled, dinner started up. Only the very perceptive would have realised that Albus Dumbledore was not a happy man. Somehow, during the commotion Harry and Lestrange had slipped away. Not only that, but the Weasley twins themselves, and Hermione Granger had vanished as well. He could trust that the twins were probably planning another prank, and that Hermione had headed off to the library-- it wouldn't have been the first mandatory feast she'd skipped out on in order to read up on something-- but it was the lack of the Hufflepuff that truly worried him.

Or rather, it was the fact that Harry was probably off somewhere with Lestrange. He needed to get the young Potter out from under the thumb of that product of a Dark Family. It didn't matter that Rodrick was a squib-- he'd been brought up by the Lestranges. He'd killed his nanny-- Albus didn't believe for a second that Zabuza wasn't guilty. For one thing, it was very obvious by his aura that he had killed before-- killed and enjoyed it. 

Harry, too, had killed, though he didn't take joy in the deaths. The fact that he didn't seem to feel any guilt over them was noted, but only in the finest of prints. Dumbledore had to make Harry into the savior the Wizarding World needed. With Voldemort on the loose for the past four and a half years, they needed all the help they could get. 

Even if Minister Fudge still refused to believe in the Dark Lord's return, even with the Dark Mark having been in the air at the Quidditch World Cup. There wasn't much he could do for making Cornelius believe him-- Voldemort very rarely acted in the public eyes these days. The snake charmer would prefer to work behind the scenes, undermining Dumbledore's authority in the Wizarding World. 

Albus couldn't have that-- he needed to have the populace support him. So when he had found Harry James Potter in his office that day a week and a half ago, he'd been elated. Here was his chance! But Lestrange's presence was complicating things. 

Oh well, he'd just have to deal with that in time. Right now, he needed to have some rumors started that he'd been training Harry in secret. Therefore, what leaked to the media would be his version of events. And right now, he could care less about them being the real ones. He needed to get Harry out of Rodrick's pocket, and into his own. 

For the good of the Wizarding World. 

* * *

End Part Twelve 

_sighs_ Dammit, I really want to get past this part and work on the real plottage, but... 

well, I have to know-- would any of you care terribly much if I jumped the storyline ahead to February? It's January 1st right now... I just need to get Hermione into being able to use some powers/abilities, and have the Gred/Forge pair working comfortably, but I've never been too fond of those long and involved 'training from the begining' scenes.


	13. chapter 13

Review responses at the end. 

Tomorrow's update may be late-- I have to work early. But never fear, even if I don't update it in the morning, you'll get it around 5:30pm MST. For those of you who don't run on mountain standard time, that's about... 7:30 EST, I believe. 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Thirteen  
The Itch

* * *

Time seemed to fly by-- well, as much as it could for the four teens using a time-turner to get the most out of every day. For in reality, they were taking two days in one-- one of magical schooling, and one of ninja training. At the beginning of January, the twins and Hermione had been dead on their feet by the time they were finally allowed to rest-- and they only recieved about eight hours sleep to cover twenty hours awake. It had not been pleasant, but they had grown used to it. By February first, it was their normal sleeping pattern, in order to keep up with Haku and Zabuza's ideas of 'training'.

To Haku's continual amazement, it was Fred who had the Bloodline Limit. How a doll could have one, while the human brother-- the human twin-- did not was a mystery to him, but not one he questioned frequently. The little doll had such love for his ability-- generating electricity, and occassionally summoning lightning bolts down on the heads of his opponents. 

It was hard fighting a doll that could fry you. 

George, on the other hand, was amazingly skilled with mana strings-- Haku's idea of an equivalent to the chakra threads used to move a puppet. The assumption that a pureblood wizard-- one who had both parents being of wizarding stock-- meant that one couldn't actively used chakra had proven quite true. So George had been taught to use his inner stores of mana as one would use their chakra-- although his mana seemed many times more powerful than the chakra that Zabuza or even Haku used. Despite this, George couldn't seem to use it to do anything else but make the mana strings. 

But that was okay, as the garrotte-wire was a weapon of the ninja-- and one that could be easily taught to George. 

While the ninjas were training new ninjas, the rest of the world still moved on. Remus had tried, and tried, and tried again to get a moment alone with Albus to talk to him about Sirius, and yet somehow, everytime, something came up that forced Albus to take care of it. Or Remus to deal with this little thing or that little thing. Scarecrow still wandered Hogwarts freely, although he did his best to avoid Remus. There was no telling what the werewolf would do to the man he thought guilty of his friends' murders. 

Dumbledore, of course, found himself trying harder and harder to break the bond between Haku and Zabuza-- something he was finding nearly impossible. How could it be that the products of a family of Dark Wizards, and a family of Light Wizards could produce two children so loyal to one another? Albus had finally noticed Zabuza's over protective streak, when a group of Hufflepuffs came to him about the fact that the man was sleeping in the fifth year dorms instead of his own room. 

So the man had started to try and win over Momochi, which was easier said than done. Much easier, as Zabuza seemed to be able to completely vanish from Albus' sight, even if the men had been exchanging a few brief words only seconds earlier. Dumbledore didn't understand what kind of magic Zabuza used, which made him nervous. It also excited him, because here was the idea that a squib could learn magic. All he had to do was figure out what the hell Momochi had done to teach himself. 

As it was, the month had progressed quickly, as had Hermione and George's physical skills and fitness. Training the equivalent of all day every day tended to help. 

Fred and Haku taken to fighting each other with only their Bloodline Limits-- lighting against ice. It was truly a spectacular event-- especially the few times Fred accidentally electrocuted himself, or the time Haku got stuck in his mirrors due to Fred dumping water all around them and then proceeding to dump enough electricity into the water to light up New York City for a week. 

Zabuza was still watching the mutt warily, but the idea of him being an animagus had quickly worn off. Why would someone want to stay in that form for so long? Not to mention the whole 'why the hell would you want to be a summons?' issue, for which Momochi decided gave him a good reason for not believing Scarecrow to be an animagus. He was still too damned smart, but then, he was one of Kakashi's dogs. And Kakashi was known for being or having something he wasn't supposed to be. Like having that _Sharingan_ eye. 

Magic had not been a big factor in Haku's life before coming to Hogwarts. Now that he was there, he was seeing it everywhere, and he could not believe the extravagent waste. These people powered everything with their mana-- they were continually draining themselves to make their belongings do things that they could have done with electricity. Oh, sure, the muggle world was far from having moving, talking paintings or photographs, but who needed them? The way they constantly moved was disturbing-- he kept catching it out of the corner of his eye, and in true ninja fashion, would have unleashed a couple of senbon at the pictures. Thankfully, his Bloodline Limit let him dissolve the ice needles even after they were thrown. He didn't need to be getting in any more trouble with the teachers. 

That was another thing-- Haku was constantly getting into trouble. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know-- or didn't want to know, in some cases-- how to do something. He was taking fifth year Transfigurations, though he still couldn't transfigure items into what he was supposed to. It was always weapons or bandages, or something related to being useful in his life as a ninja. His fifth year charms class was no better-- he had an amazing grip on charms that could be considered useful, such as Nox, but other charms escaped him completely. 

Potions and History of Magic were a royal pain, both being first year courses. History was a completely useless attempt at learning-- Binns couldn't keep any of the students' attention on him. Haku had taken to using that class to try and perfect his transfiguration skills. And Potions... well, he wasn't quite sure what Professor Snape's problem was, only that he had one. 

In fact, it seemed that most Slytherins had issues with him, though more often than not they failed to bring them up. 'Harry Potter the Hufflepuff' was so pathetic a moniker that the Slytherins didn't do much more than sneer 'hufflepuff' at him, like it was some great insult. Haku tended to ignore them, even the blonde haired one who seemed to be attempting to make his life a living hell. It wasn't working out all that well-- the blonde was a pureblood, and obviously didn't understand that Haku could survive without magic. 

Or that Haku could react without it. There had been a few times where the blonde had been 'put in his place' via ninja and simple muggle methods. Of course the obvious suspect would be "Harry"-- but he was a Hufflepuff. Certainly Hufflepuffs would never do such a thing... 

It was a nice cover, it seemed. But a cover worked only as well as it could when it's secret wasn't all that secret. Ronald Weasley had tried, day in and day out, to convince the rest of the school that there was no way in hell that Harry Potter and Haku were the same person. He actually had a surprisingly large group following him, though Ron was the only one who seemed to be mouthing off on a constant basis. Haku had attempted to ignore him. He'd attempted to retaliate. Nothing seemed to get rid of the redhead. 

It was rather frustrating. 

Which explained why the dark haired _shinobi_ was crouched in the snow at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, staring intently into his mirror shard. The world of the ninja had continued moving on without him, which while depressing could only be expected. What could he have done there? He was dead, after all. 

"Hi Haku," Hermione dropped into the snow beside him, sending a cloud of it up into the air. With barely a thought directed at it, the snow froze, gathering into a larger mirror and just hovered above their heads, "What are you doing?" 

Haku, of course, was unsurprised by the visit of his second favorite sparing partner. Despite the fact that she had never been able to access the _Sharingan_, Hermione was becoming very skilled with the _Byakugan_-- it was becoming harder and harder for her to banish it so that she could take her classes without trouble. He was still looking into the glass when he responded, "Just... looking in on an old friend." 

"Oh? Who?" leaning over, she was surprised to find a familiar blonde reflected in the glass, "Hey! I know him!" 

"You do?" Haku was surprised; Hermione had never mentioned being able to see the ninja world through her mirror shard... 

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, he was fighting this hot redheaded guy..." 

"You mean the one who turned into a demon?" Fred's voice came from above them, and Haku had to force himself not to react. That damned doll could go anywhere, and Haku couldn't sense him. All because of the fact that he had no chakra of his own. He had mana to spare, but no identifying chakra. Looking up, Haku could see George headed towards them from the school, prepared for another long day of training. 

"Yeah, the sand-guy," Granger nodded with a soft smile, "He's so handsome..." 

The teenager and the doll just stared at her, and finally Fred spoke, "You are nuts, Granger. That guy is a lunatic!" 

"Who's a lunatic?" George wanted to know as he joined the group. 

"The redhead we saw fighting Naruto," Haku answered. Neither Fred nor George had their own mirror shard, but Potter had infrequently given them use of his. 

"The one with the black kohl around his eyes?" 

"That's him," Hermione sighed dreamily, while the twins made faces and Haku shook his head. He would never understand females. 

"If you're done," Momochi's voice came from behind them, startling all four of them, "We have a mission." 

"A mission?" Haku looked surprised, "from who? Who would know that we are still alive?" 

"Apparently the _Godaime_ of Konoha," Zabuza frowned, pulling a scroll from his pants pocket, "It was attached to Scarecrow's _hitae-ate_ when I woke this morning. We have much to do." 

"Like what?" George wanted to know-- he'd never been on a mission before. Then again, neither had Hermione or Fred. 

"Like being prepared to leave by eight tonight; Kakashi will be summoning Scarecrow, and we are to be with him when summoned," Momochi's frown lightened slightly, "According to Godaime, we will be well paid for breaking our 'deaths' and returning to being active ninjas. Despite Haku and I being missing-nin, apparently Godaime is willing to ignore that in favor of having powerful allies." 

Haku let his mind race, trying to figure out why the leader of Konoha would be asking for them-- he ignored how Godaime even knew that they were still alive. It probably had to do with Scarecrow, not that that matter. What mattered was that they were being hired despite their status, in order to do... what? What was it they were doing, "Does this have to do with Uchiha?" 

He'd watched the younger of the two Uchiha try to abandon his own village. That had been an unpleasant thing to witness-- both Haku and Zabuza had abandoned the Mist and look where it had landed them. And the mere thought that Uchiha would give up his freedom in Konoha to become a pet of the leader of the Sound... certainly not a nice one. 

"Yes and no," Zabuza had begun to pace, Hermione shifting away from him as he kicked up clumps of snow, "No, because we are being hired to protect Konoha. Yes, because I want you three to enter the chuunin exam." 

"Uh, Boss, the chuunin exam is over, remember?" that was Fred. 

"Yeah Boss, it's been over for awhile now," and that was George. 

Zabuza smirked at them, and Hermione's hand lifted to the magical device around her neck. He nodded to her as understanding dawned, "You want us to use the Time Turner?" 

"Of course." 

"But..." George looked a little panicked, Fred mimicking his expression exactly. 

"We're not ready for--" 

"--the Chuunin Exam, Boss. We could get--" 

"--killed or worse!" 

"You'll just have to chance it," the jounin snapped, "We don't have time for this. Be ready in two hours, or you're remaining here at Hogwarts to explain to Dumbledore where the rest of us are." 

"Yes sir," came the mumbled reply from the twins. Zabuza vanished, presumably to deal with his own belongings. 

Hermione turned to look at her teammates, "What do you think will happen?" 

"We'll get our asses kicked," George grumbled. Fred nodded his agreement, before climbing onto his brother's head. For the moment before George let the illusion of his brother having a true physical form vanish, it was truly an odd sight. But then the illusion was gone, and he had a little doll on top of his head. 

The lightning thrower crossed his fabric arms, "What the hell are we going to call Haku? I mean, he's supposed to be dead, right?" 

"I am," Haku nodded, "But somehow I doubt that will be an issue. What will be an issue is if word gets back to your parents about this little adventure of ours, Fred." 

The twins eeped, and George rubbed his hands together nervously, "So how do we avoid--" 

"--that particular issue?" his brother finished. 

"Code names, of course," Hermione rolled her eyes, "You two can be _Ito_ and _Hiraishin._" 

"Er..." 

"Who's who?" 

"Fred is Hiraishin and George is Ito," Hermione explained not-so-patiently. 

"Somehow, I doubt Fred wants to be called 'Lightning Rod'. _Denkou_ or _Raikou_ would be better," Haku chuckled softly. 

Hermione looked confused, "Uhm... I don't know what those two mean." 

"I thought you were-- 

"--the Queen of Japanese." 

"Hmph, my japanese isn't the greatest, and both of you know that," a thought struck her, "Ack! Haku! Neither of the twins can speak Japanese! You only taught me because I begged you! How are we going to communicate?!" 

"You're a witch," Haku laughed, "You have two hours to find a translation spell. It shouldn't be /_that_/ hard, should it?" 

"Oh, right," Granger placed her hand over her heart, trying not to panic, before getting back to the topic at hand, "So... what does _denkou_ and _raikou_ mean." 

"Both translate as lightning," Haku chuckled, "But really, you don't have to use a name that relates to your bloodline. In fact, a real japanese name might be better. What do you say, Fred?" 

"Real name please," he was wincing, "Preferably starting with an 'F'." 

"Very well..." Haku tipped his head back as he tried to remember all the names he knew that started with said letter, "Let's see, there's Fujimaro, Fujio, Fukusaburu, Fumiaki, Fumihiko, Fumihiro, Fumimaro, Fu--" 

"Are there any that--" 

"--don't start with Fu?" George finished for his brother. The thought of exchanging a 'fre' for a 'fu' was just weird. 

"Not that I can think of. I take it you would prefer a different name, Fred?" Haku looked far to amused. Fred nodded slowly. After about ten minutes of Haku giving out completely random names that he could remember coming across during his travels, Fred threw his hands into the air. 

"George! You name me!" 

"Why?" 

"Because I'm going to be pretending to be "Ito's" puppet," he grumbled, "So what would--" 

"--I name a doll? Well, I liked one Haku's already said." 

"And that would be...? 

"Sen!" George was grinning proudly, "It's short and easy to remember, just like my new name!" 

Hermione and Haku shook their heads as Fred and George got into an argument over whether or not 'Sen' was a good name. The ninja turned to his teammate, "And what name will you be going by?" 

"Yaone," at his inquiring glance, she shrugged, "I don't remember where I heard it, but it's close enough to that horrid nickname their brother gave me that I'll be able to remember it. Are you going to take up another alias? Because I was thinking that you could be Hyoushin after your mirrors and--" 

Haku placed his hand over her mouth and shook his head, "I will continue to use the name I've used for ten years. Hakuhyou." 

That brought two extra heads around to stare at him, "I thought--" 

"--That your name--" 

"--was just Haku!" 

Haku shrugged, "Zabuza-san gave me the name of Hakuhyou as a joke. Haku is merely a nickname, despite how I use it. I will be registered as Hakuhyou for the exam." 

Hermione frowned, "Wait, haven't you already taken this exam?" 

Haku's eyes twinkled, "So I have. That, of course, was under the name Haku-- using the 'white' kanji. Hakuhyou uses different kanji." 

A wide grin crossed George's face, "You sly bastard, you." 

Haku smiled, "Come on you three. We need to get ready. I'm sure the Chuunin Exam will be hard-- especially since the two of you have only been training for a month." 

Fred and George looked at each other, the elation of knowing that they had one team member who could carry them through the exam abruptly wearing off. The pair wailed together, "We're doomed!" 

* * *

End Part Thirteen 

Mwaha. Bet none of you saw that one coming.

* * *

****

**Ran** - Many thanks for the fic link. As you can see, George can't use chakra, but he's using mana to mimic it. And Dumbledore, despite the fact that idiot is his name-o, has clued in. Sorta. Now he's after both of them. Jeez, does this guy never stop?

**May** - Hehe, twice you say? Cool! My little Ninja and Ninjas-in-training are certainly... amusing, are they not? ...why are you hyper? 

**Zosa** - _snickers_ Grown-up school. That's a cute one. It's a blast being able to use the computers and the internet while at college, isn't it? Why thankyou, my ideas amuse me so. I hope you continue to see what I've done to Fred and George as a masterpiece. He'll find his place soon enough. Probably when the trio get back from the chuunin exam-- because hey, look! They have another month to train in there, before they have to go back to Hogwarts. Albus won't know what hit him. Aw... _hugs_ I hope your internet straightens itself out so that you can be on. 

**gaul1** - ...died? uh... no one died. 

**Irihi** - Lets respond to both in one! Hehe, I wrote this chapter before I saw your second review, so obviously I couldn't incorperate it in. And it's very nice to know that you still love me after my massive vanishing act with BS. Hehe, I took a little bit of your advice, and a little bit of the advice of others, and made... this! Do you think it covers what's been going on nicely enough? 

**Nytingale** - His schemes are just... not fun, are they? Oh well, we're talking about someone who's had a 'falling out' in the public eye since Hermione's first year, since he tried to tell everyone that Voldemort was back, and he didn't do anything. 

**Akua** - Mmm, I skipped the month, but I did try to give an overview of everything that happened. I just really wanted to leap into the first half of the plot. All this filler was getting to me Like I told Nytingale, Dumbledore's had a rough few years, and is trying to get the trust of the populace again. Having been "proven" wrong that Voldemort wasn't back ((_he is_)), the poor old man has been losing the status he needs to be a very public figure of hope. That's why he's so nutters. As for the Naruto gang... well, this chapter should give you some insight into how I plan to do that. Mwaha. chuckles I suppose I could do a flashback to Haku killing his family. It'll probably be when he's trying to explain to Naruto just how, exactly, he's still alive. I haven't read your stories yet, but when I do, I'll review with whatever critiques/ideas I come up with. 

**Xyverz** - Nah, I don't think Fred will be a doll forever. Just until they can figure out what the hell they'd done to him-- the reason why he's a doll is because whatever trick they were making up absorbed Fred's chakra. He's living off of George's and they have to figure out how to fix that. Sirius and Remus will make up... eventually. Not yet though. 

**Kaaera** - Yay for the jump! I can get into plot and out of filler! _waves victory fans_ Seven and a half years? Now there's a jump I don't normally do outside of Prologue/Chapter One. 

**Yami no Kaze** - possibly. 

**Kanashii** - Aw... I would have liked to have seen that review. I think I scared a bunch of people at the mall yesterday when I abruptly cried, "Dammit! There are no orange leg-warmers!" in one of those trendy girl store things. Haku-blankies are cute. I should make one ((_I'm planning on making a Rock Lee shirt-- it involves making Rock Lee's face out of beads and sewing it to the back of a shirt. A blanket would be easier, and it's Haku!_)) Well, Remus has been staying close to Dumbledore since Sirius escaped, trying to get inside information. Who knows, he might actually be trying to... manipulate the manipulator. _gasp, shock, awe_ Okay, I'm done. _flashes a Rock Lee grin with thumbs up_

**maleficus-lupus** - _throws her head back and howls with laughter_ I'm a kage now, am I? How delightful. And because of you, my deviantart account now reads "Souyoukage-sama" under my user name. Itch-kage indeed... _continues laughing_

**Chibi-Naru** - Yeah, I know some plots need them, but they're so boring! ((_Unless it's a Rock Lee-type training session, then I'm happy to read it. I think it's my addiction to Rock Lee..._)) 

**Strata** - I'd say I wouldn't have counted your vote anyway, but I'd be lying. I think it was closer to thirty people on that bridge. And then there was that entire graduating class he killed without having any sort of training... hehehe. The only person who beats Gaara in coolness is Rock Lee. But I'm not going there because people tell me I'm not supposed to call him "teh sex" anymore. _smirks_ Is Dumbledore /_ever_/ happy in this fic? Or any of my others for that matter? 


	14. chapter 14

_-snarls in the general direction of Safeway-_ I'm going to burn that store to the ground. They practically forced my brother into saying "I quit"-- apparently, he is never allowed to switch a shift. Ever. They told him he'd "switched too many already". Yeah well, it's their own damn fault for not taking advance warning. He's come to them, a month before hand, and told them "I'll be out of town on such-and-such weekend." And they said, "Come back that week and we'll see what we can do". _glares _

Well, I'm going to continue muttering and swearing at work, so here's the next chapter for everyone! 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Fourteen  
The Itch

* * *

It was with great speed that the group of ninja and ninja-wanna-bes were prepared to head off on their adventure. Tracking down Scarecrow was a bit harder, but finally accomplished with a bare fifteen minutes to go before Kakashi was to summon him. For some reason he had been hiding from Lupin-- something Momochi could sympathsize with, even if he never said anything.

"Alright," Zabuza looked at the extra three bodies coming with them, frowning, "Get a good grip on Scarecrow, and don't let go. No one's ever tried this before, and I'd rather not have to explain how I got you three killed." 

"Note," Fred muttered to his brother, "How he excempts Haku." 

"That's because he trusts Haku," Hermione whacked the man-shaped doll, "Mister Zabuza doesn't trust us." 

"With good reason," the man interupted, "Are you going to grab hold of not-- you too, Fred." 

"He's 'Sen' now," George offered helpfully, ignoring the way his brother began sputtering. Fred hated that name. Zabuza raised an eyebrow, and the older Weasley explained, "We decided we needed names that fit in. So I'm Ito, Fred's Sen, and Hermione is Yaone." 

Momochi shook his head, muttering something under his breath, but whatever he was said was lost as the summoning began. 

Of course, it had to be at this moment in time that one Remus Lupin came around the corner into the corridor. He gave a startled cry, lunging for the group-- only to find himself passing through smoke as they vanished. Pushing himself up off the cold stone floor, the werewolf cursed under his breath. 

What the hell was he supposed to do now? 

* * *

"I'm glad you could make it," the voice came from behind them, and the three newbie-ninjas whirled to face whoever it was. Haku and Zabuza had already turned in that direction, instead of taking in their surroundings-- wherever they were, it looked like there had been one hell of a battle. The was a blonde lady, sitting at a desk, and a silver-haired man standing in front of said desk.

"Kakashi," Zabuza nodded in the man's direction, and the three teenagers finally had a face to go with the few things Haku had told them about his 'last days'. The other jounin only had a vaguely surprised look on his face, like he hadn't really expected the mist-nin to come through. Their companions were a complete surprise, but he didn't let that really get to him. 

"If we may begin?" the woman's voice was dry, and as she leaned over the desk her cleveage bounced. George and Fred's eyes were immediately focused there, much to Hermione's annoyance and Haku's amusement. 

"What is it you would like of us... _Godaime-sama_?" Haku was the one to speak, and his hesitation before the title was simply because he didn't know, for sure, if this was Konoha's fifth Hokage. The blonde smiled tightly. 

"I'm offering to pay you five for your services in protecting Konoha," she looked away for a moment, battling with something in her mind, before shaking whatever it was off, "After this... mess with Orochimaru and... others, we need help. You were the obvious choice, given your reputations, Zabuza-san, Haku-san." 

"On that," the demon grumbled, "How the hell did you know we were alive in the first place? Haku did an incredible job in faking our deaths." 

"I had my suspicions," Kakashi informed them, smiling behind his mask, "I felt something right before I hit 'Haku' with the _chidori_-- and something similiar to it right before you died, Zabuza." 

"The Inuzuka clan is well known for their ability to speak with dogs," Godaime continued with a faint smile, "It was due to coincidence that Sirius was summoned on a mission involving an Inuzuka." 

"Sirius?" George had gone pale, turning to stare at the dog. 

"Something wrong, Ito?" Hermione turned to look at her companion, frowning. The older Weasley shook his head. 

"It's... it's just a coincidence, don't worry about it," he shook off the cold chill, but knew for a fact that it wouldn't go away until he could freely talk about this with his teammates. 

The _Hokage_ had been watching them curiously for a moment, then returned her attention to the mission at hand, "I will give you food and lodgings for period for which you remain in Konoha. I'm afraid we don't have much money to pay you with-- the majority of it has been allotted to repairs for the village." 

"Understandable," Haku nodded carefully, ignoring the snort and Fred's comment of the fact that Haku's parents had been filthy stinking rich, so he probably was too. To be honest, Haku had no idea what kind of family he had come from, outside of the fact that his aunt and uncle had been horrid people, and he'd brutally slain them a decade earlier. 

"Will you take this mission?" the _Hokage_ was desperate for help, as the village needed all it could get. Too many people had died when the Sound and the Sand had attacked. There was little help to be found in other circles. That was when Zabuza laughed. 

"We're here, aren't we?" 

And abruptly, the atmosphere of the room had gone from tense to 'oh thank god'. The two leaders continued their discussion, as to where they would be housed and what areas they would be allowed to use for training, for quite some time before they were finally allowed to leave. Then they were shown to their temporary rooms in the _Hokage Tower_, allowing for them to rest and prepare for the long days ahead. 

It wasn't until the twins and Hermione had changed out of their school robes and into provided clothing that the female of the group realised something. Exiting the bathroom and into the common room, she held a konoha _hitae-ate_ in her hands, "Mis... Zabuza-san," that was going to be hard to get used to, speaking japanese like a japanese person, and not like an englishman or american trying to sound japanese, "these forehead protectors..." 

"Hmm?" Zabuza looked over at her, and frowned, "Something wrong He... Yaone?" 

"Well, we're not leaf-nin, nor are we mist-nin. What kind of _hitae-ate_ are we to wear?" 

Now that was a good question. Neither Yaone or Ito were 'true' ninja, so they shouldn't be wearing the hitae-ate in the first place. However, they would have to be wearing a hitae-ate if they were going to participate in the previous the chuunin exam. For a moment, he considered just letting them wear blank hitae-ate, but that was quickly brushed off. They would have to be a team, and therefore all three of them would have to wear the same village symbol, "Use the mist-nin symbol; you'll be fighting with Haku." 

"Right..." pulling her wand from it's place tucked into her shuriken holster, Yaone preformed a quick transfiguration to change it into the proper symbol. Ito followed her lead shortly thereafter. Sen left his _hitae-ate_ alone, and when his brother stared at him, Sen shrugged. 

"I'm playing a doll, remember? You should probably let the strings go." 

"So tiresome," Ito grumbled, but let the strings go. Watching his brother just... vanish... into the doll-shape was creepy no matter how many times it occured. 

"When shall we use the time turner, Zabuza-san?" Haku turned to look at the man. Momochi shrugged. 

"I suggest you use it now-- go out to one of the training grounds and shift back. You may have to 'jump' it a few times, in order to get as far back as you need." 

"Right!" the four nodded, Sen climbing into his favored position of on his brother's head, before the ninja and his companions vanished out the window. Haku took the lead, guiding them towards the training grounds he had repeatedly watched Naruto-kun train in. Hopefully they wouldn't run into him either in the here and now, or the here and then. It would be hard to explain both coming out of thin air and being alive. 

* * *

"What a trip," Ito rubbed his forehead, trying to dispell the headache brought on by the multiple jumps with the time turner. It had taken Yaone a number of 'jumps' to get back to the time period in which they were needed, and in each one the time turner had played havoc with the mana strings that kept him connected to his brother and to his teammates. Sen was just dizzy from the sensation and was clinging to Ito's hair with a death grip, unaware that they had finally reached their destination.

Yaone brushed off the seat of her pants, having stumbled when they had arrived. She was about to say something when Haku raised a hand and commanded the group into the trees. It was an instinctual reaction bred from weeks of fighting alongside or against the fifteen year old-- both Ito and Yaone followed his command without a blink. It was a good thing too, for a moment later they were witness to a strange man doing battle with Naruto-kun over a little girl. Naruto got the girl back, of course, but it didn't appear to be a truly serious match at all. 

Once Naruto had left to return the girl to-- the group assumed-- her parents, they dropped back out of the trees, "That was... enlightening." 

"Not really," Ito folded his arms behind his head, "So how are we going to get into the Chuunin Exam, anyway?" 

Haku shrugged, and began heading in the direction of Konoha at a mild pace, "We're supposed to have special applications to hand in." His teammates blinked, obviously questioning where they would get such applications. The Boy Who Lived smiled a secretive little smile, "That's where you two learn your 'genin' titles. You're going to steal the applications off of another team." 

"What?!" Yaone stepped in front of him, arms crossed and eyes narrowed, "What the hell do you mean we have to steal the applications, Hakuhyou?! You know damn well than neither G... Ito or I aren't ready for any such thing." 

"Then we don't get into the chuunin exam!" the hunter-nin smiled at her, "We have to make sure that you two-- and you, Sen-- have the skills and abilities to even be a genin, let alone compete in the Chuunin exam. And just think, if you two can do that after only a month of lessons, you'll be great ninja!" 

Yaone scowled at him, stepping aside to let him continue onwards, "I hate you, you do realise that, right?" 

"Oh absolutely." 

"So who's the mark?" Two sets of curious eyes went to the doll, and Ito chuckled. 

"Sen likes to watch muggle films." 

"Ah..." Haku nodded, before turning to Yaone, "Use your _doujutsu_, Yaone. Do you see anyone who looks like the groups that... failed the first exam?" He was assuming, of course, that she had seen the exams-- she'd seen the sand-nin, after all. Enough that she'd managed to develope a crush on him. 

With a blink, Yaone's warm brown eyes turned chilling purple, the pupil completely gone. None of the group was quite sure why her eyes had turned purple a week or so earlier, only that it had to be a sideeffect of her continously growing control over her bloodline, "There," she murmured, pointing to the east, "There is a group of genin approaching Konoha from that direction. They're about a kilometer outside of the village. I do not recall seeing them in the third exam." 

"What village are they?" 

"I... can't tell," Yaone sighed, "I need to practice more." 

"You did well, Yaone," Haku clapped her shoulder, "Now let's go. We have a group of genin to... sidetrack." 

His teammates nodded, and the group took to the trees, Yaone leading. It didn't take them all that long to reach the group of... well, what did you know. They were mist-nin. 

Haku signaled for his team to drop out of the trees, landing lightly on the road between the mist genin and their destination. 

"What the...!?" that came from their jounin companion. Haku frowned slightly-- he didn't recognise the man. Had it really been so long since he had last been to the Village of the Mist that he could no longer recognise each of the jounin by sight? 

"God!" one of the genins was clutching his chest, "Don't do that, man! I thought you were an enemy nin for sure!" 

"We're in Konoha territory," Yaone smiled, though it was somewhat concending, "All ninja are enemy ninja." 

"What are you three doing here?" the jounin was frowning, "I know all the Mist genin teams participating in the exam-- you are not one of them." 

"We're... late entries," Ito smirked at the man, fingers twitching slightly as he wove mana strands around the genin and their instructor, "We just came to inform you of that." 

The jounin frowned, "Who's your instructor, boy?" 

It was Haku who answered, "Our sensei is Momochi Zabuza." 

"Momo... he's a missing-nin!" the jounin cursed, jumping between his students and Haku's team. The master of ice tipped his head slightly. 

"So he is. Ito! Yaone! Get what we came for. I'll take care of the jounin." 

The wizard and the witch didn't even hesitate, heading straight for the genin while Haku ran at the jounin. The battle was short, sweet, and completely anticlimatic. The rookie-jounin was nothing compared to the seasoned hunter-nin-- Haku's speed had taken the jounin by surprise, and a moment later he'd sprouted a number of senbon from his throat. It was a waste of a ninja, and Haku reserved time to mourn the death later that night, but they had a purpose for being here, and nothing was to get in the way of that. 

Dissolving the ice-needles, Haku turned to watch Ito and Yaone fight. Yaone was dancing around the attacks from the group's sole female, while Ito was using his strings to take care of the two boys. Still, the mist genin were fighting back, and Ito had the cuts to prove it. Come morning, he'd probably have the bruises to go with it. 

Yaone was doing her best to simply render the younger girl unconscious, fingers flashing as she employed all the taijutsu she knew to try and strike the various shiatsu points on the girl's body. The witch didn't know enough about the tenketsu to be able to utilize them, even though she could see them. 

Haku watched the two mana-users fight it out for several more minutes, the results of which being that Sen electrified the mana-strings binding the two boys. They were electrocuted to death. Yaone had launched a kick that connected with the tired genin girl's temple, sending her flying. The girl came down with a crash at Haku's feet-- and he plunged a needle into the girl's jugular. 

"Ha... Haku!" Yaone stared at him in shock. Seeing deaths on the mirror shard, and seeing them in real life were two different things, "Wh... why did you do that?!" 

"We can not afford our mission being compromised," Haku's words were soft, "Ito, Sen. Good job. You can pray for their souls tonight. For the time being, strip them of their belongings and weapons. Make sure we each have an application. Then..." 

"Then?" Yaone looked betrayed, Ito looked sick and Sen... had gone limp. The boy had obviously locked himself into his mind, making his body appear just as it was-- a doll. 

"Then we will bury them, and ask for their forgiveness." 

* * *

End Part Fourteen 

Yes, I know. Crappy battle scene. Well nyah. You try writing a battle scene when your fingers are about to freeze off, and you're being repeatedly distracted. ((Damn these Canadian autumns!))

* * *

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**Kaaera** - So, the prologue was like "Prologue: Part One!" and chapter one was "Prologue: Part Two!" ? Eh, makes sense, kinda.

**Tanya the Insane & Aristarchus the Muse** - _pauses to stare at the name_ Ooooohkay. That was... long. Yes indeed, it is the loss for your friend. And as for how I came up with the idea... _shrugs_ I dunno. But I do read "Horse of the Leaf", which is the exchanging of Ranma for Rock Lee. ((_howls with disbelief_ No! Not my most sexy of characters! ROCK!!!)) 

**Zosa** - I never had anyone calling me names behind my back when I was in technical school. Then again, most of the time I was all shy and quiet, and plotting my eventual take over of the planet. Unless I was drunk ((_which happened all of three times_)), wherein I loudly proclaimed my eventual take over of the planet. And beat on the people trying to molest me. I was drunk, not incapable of hurting people. _scowls_ ANYWAYS! I like surprising people. I throw the most random of things at people and everyone goes "Hey! Cool!" it's great! Hope you had fun torturing your sister! 

**Akua** - Yes, it's after Haku's death, and the whole Naruto-sees-but-doesn't-believe is actually a big part of the plot. Yay! 

**Nytingale** - I think Gaara finding out someone has a crush on him will be strange enough. I'm not sure what would happen should he end up crushing back on her... 

**Xyverz** - Til the end of the Chuunin exam, at least. Tsunade could probably help getting him back to normal... No one will know except for them-- Zabuza just likes using "explaining to Dumbledore" as a threat And I do have a reason why Zabuza-san didn't go back with them, I thought it all out before this chapter. Mwaha. Yay! I feel special now 

**Chibi-Naru** - I know, isn't it the best. Aw... see ya 'round. 

**Kanashii** - _giggles_ Fred the God? That's such an amusing image. The problem is the fact that the portraits gossip-- so they wouldn't make for very good spies at all. Neither Haku nor Zabuza know if the portraits would give up their secrets to say, Dumbledore, if asked. 

**Irihi** - I'm glad you liked it. grins Hehe, I guess the two of us have been acting "ninja-like" with our whole vanishing acts, eh? 

**Strata** - Those scenes amused me far to much. As for the names... to be honest, I wasn't even thinking of puns when naming Fred and Hermione. George... well, Hermione was going for puns. Ito, using the kanji I'm thinking of, means "string". Sen was on a list of common japanese names for males-- though I must admit that I looked it up after you asked, and nearly collapsed in laughter. Such a coincidence... out of thirteen different kanji for 'sen' one means "wizard" ((_and hermit, but it was the wizard that amused me_)). As for Hermione... Yaone isn't a real japanese word. It might be chinese. I don't know, I don't have a chinese-english dictionary on hand. But it's the name of one of the not-so-bad guys in Gensoumaden Saiyuki. 

**May** - Look, Scarecrow! _points_

**maleficus-lupus** - heh, yeah, the few times I've run itch through a translator, I get such... interesting results. Well, they didn't meet this chapter, though Haku did see him. Next chapter they'll have to meet, however; it's the start of the exam. I might have read the one you're talking about-- there's a few of them out there, so I can't be too sure. I would indeed like a chibi-Haku image and a chibi-Zabuza image.


	15. chapter 15

I feel like crap. I probably shouldn't have gone out last night...

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Fifteen  
The Itch

* * *

"The Chuunin Exam isn't easy... Even we failed three times straight. Those that take this exam end up quiting as shinobis. Those that die during the exam... We seen it all," these were the words that Haku heard as he and his team stepped out of the stairwell and onto the landing.

"Something's wrong," Ito's voice was flat, the seventeen year old still fighting with the nauesea from the night before. Haku raised an eyebrow, half listening as the other of the two ninja before the classroom doors spoke. 

"And Chuunin's often become commanders of military teams. The failure of the mission, the death of a comrade.. That is all the commanders responsibility." 

"What is it, Ito?" 

"Yet, kids like you think you can pass? We are just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?" 

The wizard was cradling his brother in his arms, dividing his attention between Sen and the hallway, "I'm not sure... the surrounding mana is crooked." 

"Yaone?" 

The girl didn't even look at him, refusing to answer. She hadn't spoken to him in hours; not since she had screeched at him for killing the mist-girl. Haku sighed, returning his attention to the spectacle before him as a familiar, dark haired youth stepped forwards. 

"You will let me pass through," he was saying, and Yaone barely kept back a snort. With that one line, this boy sounded just as arrogant as a certain blonde Slytherin, "And also, remove this illusion that you created with genjutsu. I'm going to the third floor." 

"Genjutsu?" Ito blinked as realisation dawned. That was why the mana was crooked! He wasn't able to see or sense chakra, but all chakra was woven with the mana inherent in the world around them-- crooked mana meant that something was not as it seemed. He just hadn't been focused enough to clue in on it! 

"So you noticed..." one of the youths blocking the door smirked. 

"Sakura," Uchiha Sasuke turned his head slightly towards the pink-haired girl beside him, "You must have noticed first, right? Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how is the most improved on our team." 

"Oh... of course!" she had hesitated only slightly, before nodding with a smirk, "I noticed awhile ago. This is the second floor." 

"Yup!" agreed the one and only Uzumaki Naruto. With this confirmation that the genjutsu had been seen through, it broke, and the classroom was indeed shown to be the second floor, and not the third. The other genin blocking the door matched his partner's smirk. 

"Hmm... not bad. But all you did was..." his a flash of movement, he had attacked, foot lashing out with a wicked kick, "see through it!" 

Sasuke retaliated-- only to have his kick blocked. So, in fact, was the other boy's kick. A youth in green spandex straightened from where he had been standing, pushing back both Sasuke and the boy guarding the door. 

"Hey," Yaone hadn't really been paying attention to anyone in the hallway, but a mere glance at this boy had her frozen in her spot. Like her, his eyes were pupil-less, although his were such a pale shade of purple that they seemed white, unlike her own rich royal violet eyes. Did he have the Byakugan as well...? "What happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." 

"Well..." the dark haired youth flushed, and he looked over at Sakura. 

"Oh no..." grumbled his female teammate. 

"Hi!" the wide-eyed boy stepped closer to the object of his affections, "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, right?" he grinned widely, flashing her a thumbs up, "Let's go out together! I'll protect you until I die!" 

Instead of his anticipated response, he got an incredulous stare, "No way... you're lame." 

Lee moaned in disbelief at the brush-off, before deciding that she just didn't know she wanted him yet. She was still young-- ignoring that she was only a year younger than he-- he had the time to get her to realise that they were made for each other. 

"Hey you," the white-eyed boy stepped towareds Sasuke, "Identify yourself." 

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first." 

"You're a rookie, right?" he was staring cooly back at him, "How old are you?" 

Sasuke just smirked, and headed towards the stairs. After a moment or two, his teammates followed suit. Naruto paused at the stairs, turning to frown back down the hall. He had to have been seeing things-- he'd seen Haku die. There couldn't be someone here that looked just like him... but he couldn't see the boy who'd seemed so familiar anymore. Whether it was because he'd continued on, or because there was someone standing between them keeping him from seeing the other, it didn't matter. 

Because there was no possible way for it to be Haku. 

* * *

It had taken a surprising amount of skill to avoid catching Naruto's attention while they were getting settled into their seats to take the exam. Unfortunately for the mist-nin's peace of mind, he ended up in one of the few places he really didn't want to be seated-- right next to Sakura.

He didn't know how well the pink-haired kunoichi knew his face, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. Both Ito and Yaone were positioned in rows ahead of him-- a good thing, because this way he could monitor his teammates' actions. 

It was certainly an unusual test, unlike the previous chuunin exam that he had attended. Certainly, he had the knowledge to answer the questions without having to resort to cheating, but the fact was that he couldn't let anyone know that-- so he purposely got caught cheating twice. He'd set up a number of "spy mirrors" around the room, and cycling through the images reflected into them by the "control mirror" in his palm let him know exactly who had caught him cheating. 

With that out of the way, Haku let the mirrors melt, and went to work answering the questions. With his experience, it was easy to go through the questions, though he made a show of pausing and considering over every few questions. In this case it was better to be considered a lower rung ninja than the hunter-nin he really was. A glance at his teammates had him frowning-- Ito obviously hadn't gotten the note about how to cheat properly, so with a muttered oath, he formed a control mirror on Ito's desk, and a spy mirror to replace the control mirror that had been in his palm. He quickly scribbly a note in english to the mana-user. 

_George. You've been caught four times. Haku. _

Ito's back stiffened noticably, and the prankster scowled at his paper. Dammit, he couldn't let himself be caught cheating! That would ruin everything-- they'd be out of the exam before they could do... whatever it was that Haku and Zabuza thought they were needed here for. And he really didn't want Yaone to screech at him. 

Wait... Yaone... out of the corner of his eye, Ito caught sight of Yaone-- they were in the same row, just different desks. She was staring straight ahead, a look of concentration on her face-- but she was writing. Was she using the Byakugan? He wasn't at the right angle to be able to see her eyes, so he just had to hope she was right. Taking a deep breath and focusing himself, Ito closed his eyes. In his mindscape, he could see the mana strings that constantly floated around him, and he ensnared three of them. One ran from his pencil to Yaone's, while the other two were used to ancher the mana thread. 

He released his pencil, but kept his hand around it as the tool began to write exactly as Yaone was; Ito was pleased with himself-- they wouldn't be able to detect the mana strings; Haku never could, and he was a hunter-nin. With his attention off of freaking out while attempting to cheat, he let his eyes roam the room. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a kunai thudded into the exam of the boy beside him. The boy was tossed out-- his team with him-- and Ito was surprised to see Naruto in front of him. Had he really been so oblivious to the blonde's presence? But it was the look on Naruto's face that caused him to pause. He looked ready to panic. 

Ito tapped the control mirror still hidden between his arms, and it shifted into a spy mirror. Tipping it slightly, he used the moment that Yaone's target was recovering from the surprise of the kunai to send a quick message to his team leader. 

_Haku. Naruto's panicking. Ito._

The Boy Who Lived bit his tongue to keep himself from frowning. Zabuza-san had been, as always, right about Naruto-- he'd make a good ninja if he survived. And right now, it looked like Uzumaki was tipping towards not surviving. Though he knew that Naruto made it to the third exam, he was worried for the blonde. They may not have been friends, but they could have been-- and could still be. Time to give the boy a pep talk. 

Haku tried not to think about the fact that Naruto thought he was dead, and this 'note from the afterlife' might just freak him out more. 

A control mirror was quickly formed between Naruto's arms, the cool chill of it startling the orange-clad boy into noticing it. The twelve year old's stomach lurched. It wasn't possible-- this mirror looked so much like the ones he and Sasuke had been trapped in while fighting on the Great Naruto Bridge. But Haku was... dead... wasn't... he...? 

The message that had scrawlled itself across the mirror seemed to say otherwise. Elegant kanji made up the majority of the message, though Naruto was secretly glad to see the katakana translations. 

_Naruto-kun, calm yourself. You can get through this exam, just don't panic. That could be the worst possible move right now. If you can't answer the questions, and you're afraid of getting caught while cheating, then focus on the tenth question. I know you can do this. Have faith in yourself and your teammates._

It was unsigned, but Naruto had his suspicions. First there had been his glimpse of the mist-nin this morning, and now this? Haku was alive-- Kakashi-sensei would have to be told of this! Team Seven's jounin instructor, while not openly callous or mourning over the fate of the fifteen year old, had not been pleased to be the instrument of his demise. There had been a chance there, that Haku could have become someone with his own dream, but he'd died for Zabuza's. 

But apparently Haku wasn't as dead as they had believed. Naruto would have to get the story of how he survived out of him-- and he had to wonder it Zabuza had survived. He also wanted to know how Haku had gotten out of the grave he'd dug for him. It definitely hadn't been a shallow grave. 

With the knowledge that the older boy so much like him was still alive, Naruto felt his confidence boost right back up there. He may not have known the answers, but Haku believed in him. And he wouldn't let the other boy down! 

* * *

After the abrupt entrance of the second examiner, Haku breathed a sigh of relief. They'd made it past the first obstacle-- both his team and Team Seven. As of this point, he didn't care if they got through the second exam, they needed to be prepared for the battles to come during the third exam--but that didn't mean they needed to be in it. They had needed to pass the first exam to be able to enter the Forest of Death and do the task Zabuza-san had outlined for them. It was dangerous and it was crazy, but Haku was determined to keep his word to his beloved instructor.

But first, he had a curious blonde ninja to talk to. 

He left Ito and Yaone to go over their forms alone; Sen was there, and even though he hadn't fallen out of his state of apathy, Haku knew he'd never let his brother get hurt. He didn't bother to set up any spy mirrors, instead he just headed towards the area of loudest disturbance. 

Naruto was there, just as he had expected him to be. The hyperactive blonde was regalling a troop of children about his greatness, and Haku smiled. Naruto was Naruto was Naruto. Potter hoped that would never change-- the world needed people like Naruto to offset the darker people that populated it. The people like Uchiha Sasuke. 

Haku couldn't hold the laughter in as Naruto was interupted and informed that he was doing it wrong. That brought several stares to him, and the little kids seemed annoyed. To Haku's surprise, he recognised one as the girl that Naruto had rescued. 

The boy that looked to be the leader huffed, "Who are you?" 

He was ignored in favor of Sakura's startled gasp, Sasuke's wide eyes, and Naruto's... smug expression? That made Haku's smile wider as the blonde boy bounded to his feet, "Ha! I knew you were still alive!" 

"It's nice to see you as well, Naruto-kun," Haku tipped his head in greeting, "And I'm glad to see you took my advice." 

"Nihihihihihi" the boy laughed, before his brow furrowed in curiosity, "Oi, Haku!" 

"I'm standing right here, there is no need to shout." 

Naruto ignored the rebuke, "How'd you know about the tenth question?" The leaf-nin and the mist-nin stared at each other for a long moment, before Haku smiled brightly. 

"I didn't." 

"Ow..." Naruto rubbed his nose as he got up from where he'd fallen in surprise, "Then why did you tell me to wait for it?!" 

"Because I thought it might be a little easier!" Haku was still smiling cheerfully, "And it was, wasn't it?" 

"Anything but death is easy to you," Ito grumbled, sauntering up to the group, "Hakuhyou, Yaone's going to throw a fit if you aren't back with your paper soon." 

Haku winced, and rubbed his left ear. Yaone's little screeching festival the night before had killed his ear drum for hours, and he swore he had bruises on the cartilegde from her fingers. Never mind the fact that it was impossible, he was positive that he did, "Right right... I suppose we will have to speak later, Naruto-kun. It was nice to see you, and I hope you have improved in battle, Sasuke-san. I would like to fight you again." 

He started to walk away before pausing to smile over his shoulder, "And if you're anything like your teammates, Sakura-san, I think I would like to fight you as well." Sakura flushed brilliantly, watching as the boy thought dead was grabbed by his tunic sleeve and dragged off by his redhaired partner. 

After a minute, Naruto swore, "Dammit! I wanted to ask him if Zabuza was still alive!" 

* * *

End Part Fifteen 

Not as long as I had wanted it, but I didn't want to split the Orochimaru battle up. That should be next chapter. It may take two days to finish, though, so I hope you don't mind if I miss an update tomorrow, in favor of a longer chapter.

* * *

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**Kanashii** - I know it's cute, that's why I put it in there. And Yaone is a demon in Gensoumaden Saiyuki. She's very... nice and very... uhm... hmm... she's strange. Kinda like Haku, only female and... not. _-- doesn't know how to explain Yaone._

**Ran** - I'd like to say they were on purpose, but that was blind luck. 

**Nytingale** - Remus is having a conipition. Poor werewolf. 

**Strata** - Yaone definitely had words with her dear leader. And is obviously still pissed off at him. Look! Neji! ((_And Sexy Eyebrows Rock Lee, but you're more interested in Neji..._)) 

**Xyverz** - They're going to be forcefully desensitised while in the Forest of Death. Oh the plots I have... 

**maleficus-lupus** - Thankyou 

**Irihi** - _-grins-_

**Tanya & Aristrachus** - Ah, but I live in Calgary, out on those cheerfully cold plains... _-grumbles a bit-_ Ah well... 

**May** - No kidding. They need to have some time spent being real ninjas, not just ninja-wannabes. And now that they are, they're freaking out. Yay review! 

**itsucked** - That's nice. 

**Akua** - And here we have Naruto... Zabuza hasn't gone back in time, but that's actually a kind of 'safety' thing. It's Zabuza's way of telling Haku that he can change whatever he wants-- there just have to be the specific events that bring them to Konoha in the first place. It's to prevent paradox, you know? 


	16. chapter 16

The fact that I can't spell my own name disturbs me... 

I apologize for taking a week to get this out; I got called into work every day last week, so I didn't have the time I thought I would to write it. ((_One of my co-workers got sick, and I had to cover for her._)) 

* * *

For Your Dream  
Part Sixteen  
The Itch

* * *

Into training ground number forty-four, mockingly titled the Forest of Death by those that had never been within, they went. The title was reverent for those who had been, and knew well the dangers; and while Haku and his team may not have ever been within, there was an ominous presence over the forest. The light that made it's way down to ground level was muted and more often than not tinged green from the leaves high above, casting eerie shadows around the group of four.

A hand signal from Yaone had her partners stopping on either side of her. She tilted her head towards Ito as she spoke, a blatant sign that she still refused to speak with Haku, "There is a team half a kilometer before us. Two boys and a girl--" 

"Gee, I didn't expect /_that_/." 

"--Ito, shut up. They're young, as well." 

Haku frowned, "The rookie genin?" everyone knew that title; it was hard not to know, given the fact that the nine rookies hadn't even been genin for an entire year, and they were taking the chuunin exam. 

Yaone ignored Haku's question, instead seating herself on the branch, "They appear to be setting a trap. I wo-- what the hell?" 

"What? What is it?" Ito leaned over to look into her face, "What's wrong, Hermione?" 

"Yaone," she corrected absently, staring across the distance at something only she could see. For a moment, she gave up her resolve not to talk to her leader, "Hakuhyou... the _Byakugan..._" 

"Yes?" 

"...do users of it have white eyes?" 

Haku looked surprised for a moment, then nodded, "Yes. The white eyes are a sign of mastery of the control over the _Byakugan_. It doesn't mean that they can use it to it's full potential, just that they have the ability to do so." 

Yaone nodded, "Yes, well, apparently the girl on that team is a _Byakugan_ user." 

Ito frowned, "You feel up to taking on someone more skilled in your bloodline than you?" 

"No," she shook her head, "I wouldn't mind getting closer to see it in action, but it's probably better that we don't. I have no idea if they've set more traps than just that, and I'd rather not get caught." 

"Of course," Haku nodded, "Completely understandable." 

"Let's go that way," she pointed forty-five degrees north of their current direction of travel. It seemed she was ignoring Haku again, which caused the mist-nin to sigh. Was she ever going to get over that? They were ninja, they were hired to kill. Just because they hadn't had a chance to do much more than strike debilitating blows during their training at Hogwarts did not make that any more untrue. 

He cursed himself for thinking of it, but he couldn't help but wonder if either of the mana-users would make it through this exam alive. 

When Yaone suddenly veered off course, rebounding then shooting back in the direction they had just come from, Haku and Ito were left staring after her. Her shout echoed through the forest, "Dammit, Haku do you want that blonde kid you're so fond of to die?!" 

"Wha...?" suddenly realization dawned on him, and he cursed. That was one of the things he'd wanted to prevent-- he'd forgotten it took place so close to the beginning of the exam. Grabbing Ito by the arm, he quickly preformed his seals and was soon right behind the violet-eyed girl, "How do you know it's happening right now?" 

"I've been watching him since the start of the exam," Yaone snapped, "We're lucky that his gate wasn't too far from our own!" 

"How much trouble is he in?" Ito wondered, finally having his own feet beneath him again and running alongside his companions. Haku didn't even pause to look at him as he answered. 

"He was eaten by a snake the last time." 

Eaten by...? He had a horrible flashback to four years ago, when Headmaster Dumbledore had brought his sister back from the Chamber of Secrets. They had been lucky that Albus had been watching the Chamber once students started getting petrified-- apparently if he had been detained by the ministry any later, his sister would have died. Would have been eaten by the Basilisk. It was a horrifying thought. 

He didn't want to think of it happening to anyone else, and his hand went to the limp form of his brother, tucked into the wide collar of his shirt, "Sen, Sen, wake up. C'mon Fred, wake up, we're going to need you!" There was no answer, and Ito felt his heart clench, "C'mon Fred, we've gotta help a kid, wake up!" 

"He's lost within himself," Haku muttered, "You can't reach him." 

"I have to! That kid's going to get eaten-- we can't let that happen! Not after Ginny!" Ito swore he felt Sen move in his hand, but a glance down made him realize that the doll was still as unresponsive as ever. 

"Yaone, which direction is Naruto-kun?" 

"Directly in front of us," this was no time to be partaking in her petty vengeance against the younger ninja. Time was of the essence. Haku's jaw clenched for a moment, mind racing furiously. 

"Yaone, I want you, Ito and Sen to find Sasuke-san and Sakura-san. They're going to need your help. I'll take care of Naruto-kun and the snake." 

"But--" 

"No buts Ito," Haku's voice was deadly soft, the only sign that he was radiating fury, "Go." 

Ito nodded slowly, "Yessir," then he and Yaone were off, racing through the trees towards where the other two members of Team Seven were located. Haku kept himself focused on the task at hand, though he had to be pleased with how well Yaone and Ito were moving through the trees. Though they had had the Forbidden Forest for practice, they had been unable to move further than five or six meters in without risking the wrath of the Headmaster. The trees that bordered the Hogwarts grounds were a lot more spindly and clumped together. It was a completely different style of forest than this lush deathtrap. 

He hit the ground before the snake, eyes searching frantically for the blonde. He didn't have to search for long-- because within moments the Snake swelled, and began to look frantic. Abruptly, it's flesh was ripped apart, and a hundred Naruto-clones came flying out. Haku almost laughed in relief-- Naruto was okay. Intellectually, he knew he would be, but he had been so terrified for the kid... 

"Naruto-kun!" 

"Eh? Haku?" Naruto blinked stared at the older ninja in surprise for a moment, "What are you doing here?" 

"We don't have much time," Haku stared the boy down, "Your teammates are in trouble. Mine have gone to help out, but I don't know how much Yaone and Ito can do." 

"Huh?" Naruto looked confused for a moment, before realizing what Haku meant. With a curse, Naruto leapt into the trees, Haku a second after him, "Do you know where they are?" 

Haku shook his head, "I don't know. I know which direction Yaone and Ito moved in, but I don't know if they moved, or how far we are from them." 

"Dammit!" Naruto was scowling, "Sasuke better not be letting Sakura-chan get hurt!" 

"I think you should be more worried about Sasuke-san," Haku muttered, ignoring Naruto's confused look. They continued on in silence, right up until they could hear the sound of someone coming into abrupt bodily contact with a tree. The speed of the two boys picked up, and they got onto the scene just in time to see Yaone catch the falling Ito, she herself looking battered. Sakura was on her knees, shaking as she watched the snake-like man move towards Sasuke. 

Sasuke, too, looked frightened, and that worried Naruto unlike anything else. Sasuke was afraid? He couldn't understand why-- so the snake-man was kinda freaky like that, there wasn't anything to be afraid of... 

When the man lunged for Sasuke, Naruto reacted, kunai and shuriken cutting him off, and bringing attention to the two boys in the tree. Naruto grinned widely at his teammates, "Sorry, Sasuke." 

"Naruto!" Relief was radiating off of Sakura, though she was surprised to see Haku standing with him. Realization dawned as the older ninja dropped off the higher branch to check in on Yaone and Ito. The pair that had rescued she and Sasuke from their attacker looked absolutely trashed. Obviously they hadn't been any challenge for this opponent. 

Naruto continued speaking, "I forgot the password." 

Sakura was grinning-- he'd done just as Sasuke had predicted, "Ah! Naruto, you look kinda cool!" 

"Naruto!" Sasuke's sounded surprisingly panicked, Haku noted just before jumping away to set Yaone and Ito a safe distance from the genin. Naruto would be fine for a few minutes, he knew that. He just needed to get his partners out of the way before they got injured. 

"You must have come here to show off by helping us, but don't get involved! Run! He's way above our level!" 

Naruto blinked a few times. Okay, that was weird; beneath his panic the Uchiha sounds almost... worried? For him? Must have been his imagination! 

The voice of their attacker stopped anything Naruto would have said in return-- likely boasting-- and brought attention back to him, "Looks like you defeated that big snake, Naruto-kun." 

That guy looks like a snake... Naruto caught movement out of the corner of his eye, as Haku settled onto a branch not to far away. With the older ninja at his back, Naruto felt a lot... safer. Not that he would ever tell anyone-- he had an image to maintain, and he hadn't been exactly worried before hand. It was just that there was something comforting about the mist-nin. 

"Hey hey hey hey!" Naruto directed his words to the snake-man, "Looks like you were picking on the weak, eh?" 

Haku had to smother laughter, despite the dire straits they'd found themselves in. Naruto was undeniably strong-- but only when he was in a rage. Haku had learned that first hand. Those blood-red eyes were... terrifying, but not so much as the red chakra he used in that state. He didn't know the whys or the hows behind Naruto's strange power-- and he didn't care. 

If this... _hebi-teme_ were to do anything stupid-- like grievously injure Sasuke or Sakura-- there would be no stopping Naruto. Not in that state; Haku was only lucky that he had met Naruto before hand, else he would have been dead in that battle on the bridge. He knew that, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Naruto did as well. 

Naruto's next words just made Haku want to bang his head against the tree he was standing in, "Now that I, the great Uzumaki Naruto, am here, I'm going to beat you to a pulp!" 

Haku's eyes went to Sasuke. The boy who would be traitor; Haku was determined to prevent that from occurring. For one thing, it would stop a lot of future pain-- and it certainly wouldn't stop the destruction of Konoha. So they were safe in that the destruction of Konoha would bring them then, and they could come back to now. Right then, no paradox means he can act however he wishes too. 

The master of ice brought up one hand and ran through the seals-- all but the last one. He might need to be able to trigger the mirrors quickly, and he knew for a fact that he wasn't the fastest of seal-makers. He didn't need to have the possibility of his technique being stopped before he could use it. 

"Wait," heads turned towards the last of the Uchiha, who refused to look at any of them. He stared at the ground far below. Shock went through the other two Konoha genin and Haku as the boy pulled their scroll out of his pocket. Haku had been expecting it-- vaguely, as when he'd been watching the confrontation the first time, he'd had to split his attention between the mirror shard and crossing a canyon via an old log-- but it still came as something of a surprise. 

"I'll give you the scroll," he tossed it to his other hand and looked up at the snake-man, "Please, take this and leave us in peace." 

"Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing?! What are you trying to do by giving the enemy our scroll?" 

"What does it look like he's doing?" Haku murmured, "He's trying to save to lot of us." 

"Naruto, shut up!" Sasuke obviously hadn't heard Haku, though Naruto had, and he'd turned to give Haku a confused look. Surely the four of them wouldn't have any trouble with one man... 

"What?" 

"I see, you're smart," the snake-man lifted his torso off of the branch, "The only hope the prey has from a predator... is to hand over something else to eat to save itself." Sasuke stared at the man, and the man stared back, both knowing exactly who was in control of the situation. 

"Take it," Sasuke half growled, tossing the scroll towards him-- though he shouldn't have even bothered. Naruto landed behind Sasuke, having shot through the air to grab the scroll and rebounding off of another tree. Haku dropped down behind the snake-man, prepared to protect Naruto-kun should the need arise. 

"Bastard!" Sasuke whirled around, "Don't butt in! Do you understand the situation you're in?!" Despite the insults, Haku was surprised to note real concern in the younger ninja's voice. It seemed totally at odds with the Sasuke he'd learned to hate through the mirror-shard, although more in tune with the Sasuke that had blocked his senbon from hitting Naruto back at the bridge. Perhaps not all was lost for Sasuke, if he could just keep that damned seal from being placed. 

While he was thinking, he almost missed Naruto turning around, and landing a right cross into Sasuke's face. 

"Bastard," Sasuke spat again, "Why did you do that?" 

Naruto was taking deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart, and that voice screaming in the back of his mind for violence. He hated that voice, and it was hard to concentrate past it, but he did, "I... forgot the password," he began, "so I can't make sure of this, but... you're a fake Sasuke, aren't you?" 

"Naruto, what... what are you saying?" Haku looked over at the pink-haired girl and frowned. Why was she not standing? Was she hurt? A glance at the hebi-teme simply revealed that he was amused. Not exactly a good thing but... maybe it meant they'd have a minute or two without being attacked. Haku leapt onto the branch Sakura was still kneeling on. The mist-nin caught her arm and began dragging her up into a standing position. She didn't look injured, but her legs didn't seem to want to hold her weight. 

"You idiot!" Sasuke spat, though Haku was only keeping half an ear on the conversation. No, he was more concerned with pulling out one of the few potions he'd learned how to make. He hadn't learned them at Hogwarts-- instead, on one of the brief trips into China from the Ninja-bubble, Zabuza-san had picked up a herbal remedies text that they could use with the plant life in the bubble. It only had a few potions, and they only did simple things-- like making a cough better, or giving one a boost of adrenaline in order to complete something. 

Haku had become a master of the "adrenaline potion", which was what he was feeding to the young Haruno. It's effects wouldn't last very long-- half an hour at the most-- but he figured that should be enough time. 

"--an't be the Sasuke I know," once he was sure that he'd gotten the potion down Sakura's throat, he returned his attention back to his blonde friend, "I don't know how strong he is, but there is no guarantee that he'll let us go even if we hand over our scroll! You're the one who is scared, the one who doesn't understand the situation." 

The snake-man began to laugh, "Naruto-kun..." that made Haku scowl. As far as he knew he was the only one-- aside from instructors-- that called Naruto that. This slimy bastard shouldn't be using it! 

He licked his lips, which was a truly disturbing sight, given the length of his tongue, "You're correct!" 

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him in shock, only then realizing just how much trouble they were really in. This was not a good thing, Haku decided, and began to pull away from Sakura. Naruto would need his help, and the girl should be able to stand on her own... 

"I just have to..." he began to lift his sleeve, revealing a strange tattoo, "...kill all of you to take the scroll." Biting his thumb, he streaked blood down his arm and Haku cursed. 

"Naruto-kun! He's going to summon--" he didn't need to finish, Naruto had drawn his kunai and was running for the man. 

"Don't mess with us!" 

"Stop! Run, Naruto!" Something the back of both Naruto and Haku's minds commented on how girlish Sasuke was being. 

"Dammit!" Naruto hissed, jumping into the air to come down on top of the man. I've lost faith in you, Sasuke... 

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu_!" the snake man put his hands together and began forming the seals. For half a moment, Haku looked on in awe. His hands were moving so quickly... but then, what else would one expect from one of the three legendary _Sannin_? 

Wind began to blow, blurring the air with it's strength, and Naruto was tossed backwards. The tree branch that they had been standing on exploded-- all Haku could do was stare, only peripherally noticing that Sakura's hand was clenching around his wrist as she screamed, "NARUTO!" 

"How cute..." the man sneered-- Naruto had been dodging every attack for the past five minutes, and was now crouched on a branch and panting. Haku didn't know what to do, where to start. This was a dangerous game, and he knew he didn't have the strength to fight the legendary Orochimaru. But neither did Naruto, and yet he was down there, fighting. What to do, what to do... 

"What a cute prey," and the snake he was riding on attacked once more, breaking the branch the blonde had been resting on. 

"Naruto!" came Sasuke and Sakura's voice, echoed half a second later by Haku's, "Naruto-kun!" 

"Eat him for now," Orochimaru was laughing again, as Naruto fell from the branch he'd been slammed into. He was just above the snake's mouth when his eyes opened, and Haku felt his heart clench, and his muscles freeze. He'd been about to jump and catch the boy-- both those blood red eyes froze him on the spot. Having faced them before, having almost died at this boy's hand, Haku was actually... afraid of this version of Naruto. The demon-eyed boy was a terrifying opponent. 

"Dammit!" Naruto twisted around, slamming his foot into the snake's head. It was different having that beast directed at something other than him, Haku's mind distantly noted. He barely noted the fact that Sakura had grabbed hold of his hand and was trying to break him out of his terrified trance. 

"Haku! Haku! Haku, wake up!" Sakura was shaking him, "Haku! You've got to help him! Haku!" 

"Is this kid...?" That drew Haku's attention. Did Orochimaru know why Naruto had this terrifying power? 

"Naruto's gone berserk...!" Sakura whispered, "Why is he so strong?" 

"I don't know," Haku returned, equally as quiet, "But this is the power he used to defeat me." the words were slow in coming, the mist-nin having to fight through his fear of the beast to speak. It hadn't been so bad on the bridge-- but at that point he had resigned himself to death. Now that he wanted to live, seeing this... thing that had almost killed him was not very pleasant. 

Naruto's attacking was relentless, though it didn't appear to really have any effect on the snake. Hell, Orochimaru was /_smiling_/. Then he was blowing fire, and Naruto was crashing back through the branches, back the way he'd come. 

"Those eyes... I am sure of it now." 

"That's... Naruto?" Sasuke's heart was pounding in his throat. What he had just witnessed... 

"You're next," Orochimaru looked over at his true target-- the Uchiha boy, "Sasuke-kun. How will you fight?" 

He was frozen in place as Orochimaru lunged, and Sakura screamed, "Sasuke-kun!" 

Haku was leaping to help, but Sakura's grip on his wrist weighed him down and he only managed to drag her a few branches closer to the battle. They needn't have worried-- Naruto stood in front of Sasuke, back planted against the snake's snout, and arms spread. In each hand was a _kunai_-- and each _kunai_ was buried into the snake's face. 

"Hey... are you hurt..." Naruto finally looked up, and Sasuke got his first look into the slit crimson eyes of his teammate, "Scaredy-cat?" 

Sasuke stared at him, and Haku briefly wondered what was going through his mind. Those words had sounded... almost like Naruto had been quoting someone. He didn't know who, but it must have been someone that both boys had come across during their brief stint as genin. 

"This idiot and coward I see isn't the Sasuke I know..." Naruto wanted to say more, but the creepy sensation of having a /_tongue_/ wrap around his body wasn't exactly normal, and he found himself jerked into the air, "Wha... why you...! Dammit! Let go, you snake bastard!" 

Haku's fingers dug into Sakura's hand, "I've got to help him, Sakura-san! Please, let go!" Orochimaru was making seals... his fingers lighting up with dark chakra. A shiver ran down Haku's spine-- that feeling! So much like his dreams... "Sakura-san, please!" 

Haruno looked startled, then looked down at where she was gripping Haku's wrist so hard she'd probably leave bruises. Her eyes widened and she released his wrist. Haku gave her a smile of thanks, before he was moving. He had to save Naruto! He didn't know what, exactly, Orochimaru was doing, but he certainly remembered it's effects. Naruto had been unable to preform his favored technique properly! 

"See, you're seal surfaced," Haku didn't have the time to wonder what Orochimaru meant, as the man reared back, "_Gogyo Fuuin_!" 

Haku's arms wrapped around Naruto's middle, his momentum carrying them both forwards-- but not quite fast enough. Haku, who had for so long ignored pain, who was quite capable of setting his own broken bones without blinking... screamed. 

The fingers had dug into his shoulder-- where Naruto's stomach should have been. Haku didn't know why the snake bastard would attack the stomach and not something more vital, like the heart, but he really didn't care. Pain lanced through his body as his lunge sent both Naruto and he flying off of the snake's head, and tumbling to the ground so very far below. It hurt so damned much... 

Haku passed out, even as Naruto caught him, and landed on a branch meters below. The blonde wavered on his feet, sight blurring in and out before he, too, collapsed. His body ached, he could barely move-- using the _Kyuubi's_ power was a strain on his body. The only other time he'd felt like this was after the battle on the bridge... he tried to get up; Sasuke and Sakura were in trouble, he just knew it. 

But he couldn't move. He was just too drained-- first from the fight that resulted in the first clone of him, then from the blast he'd taken head on. Being eaten by that snake, and using the _Kyuubi's_ chakra to keep him alive-- even it was only subconsciously-- had certainly not helped. He was out of his own chakra, and had severely depleted _Kyuubi's. _

Orochimaru looked down on the pair so far below, and smirked. He didn't know for sure which of the two he had hit with the seal, but it was more than likely that he'd hit Naruto. The unknown genin would have had to have been as fast as a jounin to have managed to get in the way of his attack. He'd probably knocked himself out when he landed. 

When he was finished in Konoha, he made a note to go and look into the hidden village of the mist. See if the kid was good enough to be one of his. It took guts to throw himself in the way of an attack for someone of another village. 

Sakura was staring at Sasuke, watching him shake, "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?!" The boy she loved so dearly had done nothing to help Naruto-- they'd had to rely on someone from another team, from another country. That wasn't right. Her jade gaze narrowed on him, "At least Naruto's not a coward!" 

Sasuke was still shaking as he finally looked away, closing his eyes. 

* * *

End Part Sixteen. 

Mou, I don't want to write Orochimaru and Sasuke's battle. I'll write out the end of it at the beginning of the next part, but I really don't want to write it out. 

Oh, yeah... almost all of the dialogue is taken directly from episodes 28 and 29. There were certain parts that I changed from what they said in my subtitles.

* * *

****

**Adyen** - _::grins::_ Oh, Haku knows all about the paradox they're creating. He's trying to minimize it so that they get through it without causing any changes that would result in them not coming to Konoha in the first place. I knew this from the moment that I decided they'd use the Time Turner to go back and play around. I've been plotting it out, actually. Besides, you don't /_actually_/ think that Tsunade learned of Haku and Zabuza's continued survival through Sirius, do you? _::waggles her eyebrows::_

**Nytingale** - I hope this begins to answer your questions... and causes more! I'm have so much fun with this story. The plot is incredable twisted ((_not in a bad way-- I mean that it's making little knots out of itself._)) 

**Irihi** - No, not quite yet, hehe... Sorry it took so long to get this out. Work is such a pain, isn't it? 

**Ran** - _::chuckles::_ My luck amuses me so. As for Yaone... well, she knows Gaara is homocidal. I just don't think it's connected in her head. It's like... Sakura knows Sasuke is an anal prick bent on being an avenger, but can't quite get it through her head that that means that Sasuke doesn't have time to play boyfriend for her. 

**Strata** - Gai is cool, yes... but his cheekbones scare me. Go Rock Lee! Pfft, Rock is so cooler than Neji. Yaone will meet up with Neji soon enough ((_hmm, like... next chapter, or the chapter after that..._)) and then they can have fun with Yaone's Byakugan ((_"I'm... from a branch family. That moved away. Far, far away. Otherside of the world far."_)) I have this sudden image of Yaone wearing a spotted bandana thanks to you. Or in a pantsuit. Scary, Amazon Yaone... 

**May** - Oh, Fred's freaking out, and George is... avoiding thinking about it. Well, being as beat up as he is right now, I think he's only thinking about the fact that his spine feels like it's in pieces. Hermione is freaking out more because she's muggleborn. Unlike Fred and George, who've come from a world that spent the first part of their lives recovering from a war, and having terrorist-type attacks, Hermione's lived in a relatively peaceful world. She's not used to having death on her doorstep. On that note, Fred & George also know that their father killed a Death Eater or ten in his prime; they're not so much disturbed by death, as they are that one of their friends killed in cold blood. 

**Zosa** - Well, I'm glad that you feel that you could wait months. It's only been a week, which should make you happy. 

**Chibi-Naru** - They know he's alive, and now there's trouble! Ut-oh! 

**Kanashii** - Sanzo, you mean. I've heard the original legend, and it always amuses me how it was changed for Saiyuki. ((_And even for Dragonball, but we're not going there._)) Hehe, Hakkai was supposed to be a pig... Yaone just needs some time to adjust. She's in an entirely new world... it's a good thing she's got two months to do it, ne? 

**Xyverz** - Ah, sorry if I confused you. I hope I didn't do it again-- I tried to make sure it was clear who was talking and when, although if you've seen episodes 28 and 29 it shouldn't be /_that_/ hard to figure it out 

**Kaaera** - The teams have met, but we don't know what happened between Ito & Yaone and Sasuke & Sakura... of course, everything after that point has been given... hehehehe 

**Akua** - Well, Sasuke knows Haku is alive now, and has even seen him. Of course, Haku saw him being a wuss, and I'm sure Uchiha isn't going to be too happy about that. Ehehehehehehe 


	17. chapter 17

It's kinda like life when life treats you good-- it's not what's on the outside, it's what's under the hood.

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Seventeen  
The Itch

* * *

Ito groaned as he finally managed to pull himself out of unconsciousness. Pain wracked his body, the redhead trying to force himself into a sitting position-- but the hand on his chest prevented any movement. Blinking at the blurry form leaning over him, he managed a barily audible, "Who...?", before pain stole his breath away. Dearest Merlin, his back hurt. It felt kinda like the time he'd fallen from his broom back in second year, during the Gryfindor-Ravenclaw match; he'd ended up in the hospital ward for a week under 'observation'.

"Easy there, Ito," that was Yaone's voice. At least he was in the company of someone he knew... and that thought brought him back to the present day, and he made a strangled sound. 

"Those... those two kids... what--" 

"Hakuhyou and the blonde showed up," Yaone's face was starting to come into focus. He must have just smacked his head a bit to hard, "They fought that snake-freak." 

"Did they win?" 

Yaone looked away from him, her eyes distant as she accessed the _Byakugan_. She must have been watching the battle. Finally, she sighed, "Blondie and Hakuhyou were knocked out a little while ago. The snake is fighting Sharingan. The girl is... watching. Waiting, I assume." 

With her attention away from him, Ito pushed himself into a sitting position, but he was leaning heavily on his partner, "Tell me... you have to tell me what's going on, Yaone!" 

Yaone nodded sharply, "The girl's come down from behind to check on Sharingan. The snake is moving. Looks like he's getting the upper-hand, again." 

* * *

"I'm impressed that you can use your _Sharingan_ so well at your age," the voice was doubled, which was creepy to say the least. Sakura trembled at the voice, mentally reaching out and trying to grasp a hold of the adrenaline which was being beaten back by whatever _jutsu_ Orochimaru was using. As he continued speaking, one voice began over taking the other, "You live up to the name of Uchiha. I want you after all."

The man lifted his hand away from his hitae-ate, dispelling whatever illusion spell had been on it-- for now, instead of being the symbol of the grass, it was a simple music note. The symbol of the youngest of the Hidden Villages-- Sound. 

Sasuke grunted as he tried to fight off the paralysis, but the Sound-nin ignored it. The burnt and crumbling mask stretched oddly as he smiled, "You two are deinitely brothers. Your eyes say that you carry more potential than Itachi." 

That name...! Sasuke felt a familiar old fury course through his veins at the name of his most hated brother. The feeling was so strong that Sakura could feel the killing intent wafting off of her crush in reaction to one simple word-- to one name. 

"Who are you?!" Sasuke snarled, rage clouding his thoughts momentarily, and freeing him from the snake's technique. 

The Sound-nin was still smiling in that unnerving way, "My name is Orochimaru," the snake was far to pleased with himself, "If you wish to see me again, get through this Exam as if your life depended on it. In other words, you'll have to defeat my subordinates, the three Sound ninja." 

Sakura's frightened gaze was on him, as even over Sasuke's enraged chakra, she could feel this man's. It was dark and venomous, but the most frightening aspect was that it felt like it was searching for something. Still, she covered up her fear, "What nonsense are you chattering about? We never want to see your face again!" 

Orochimaru chuckled, "It doesn't work that way." And with that, he preformed a single seal-- and his neck began to stretch. Sakura gave a startled shriek as the head began to move towards them-- no! Towards /_Sasuke-kun_/! His mouth opened wide, wicked fangs revealed. 

Sakura moved without thinking, still powered by the "adrenaline potion". Orochimaru's fangs had begun to sink into Sasuke's neck, only to be brutally yanked out as Sakura crashed into Sasuke from behind, knocking him out of Orochimaru's grip-- and landing her under those very same fangs. 

Orochimaru withdrew as soon as he could, not wanting the useless girl. His fangs dripped with the mixed blood of the two konoha genin, and he prepared to bite Sasuke again in order to finish the seal. Sakura collaped on top of Sasuke, green eyes darkening with pain as she glared at the snake man who's head still hovered over them. 

Orochimaru smiled to himself as he realised he'd bitten Sasuke long enough to start the Curse Seal-- only two of the three spirals appeared on the boy's neck. He may not have been able to place the full seal on the boy but... he drew back to normal proportions of the body. When Sasuke came to him for power, he could finish the seal. It didn't matter to him-- he'd get Uchiha either way. 

And if the girl came with him-- she had the third spiral on her neck, just behind the long, raw scrapes across her shoulder-- then he could always have Sasuke kill her as his first test of loyality. 

"Sasuke-kun!" she could feel her body beginning to burn-- was Orochimaru's bite poisonous? And Sasuke had been under his fangs longer than she... oh the pain the boy laid out beneath her must be in! Her vision was beginning to swim; it wasn't any fun, "What did you do to us?!" 

Orochimaru tapped his lips with a smile, "I meant to give it only to him, but... well, it's a farewell present. You two will seek me. He will seek me for power. You will seek me for for his cure," his next words were directed to Sasuke, "It was fun being able to see a lot of your moves." with a laugh he seemed to melt right through the tree, leaving Sakura in pain, Sasuke howling, Naruto paralysed and Haku unconscious. 

"Sa--Sasuke-kun," Sakura stumbled to her feet, thanking god that she still had adrenaline running through her system. She didn't know for how much longer she would be able to count on it being there, so she had to get them to saftey quickly. Pained gasps escaped her as she tried to sling her teammate onto her back. Oh, this would not be an easy trip. 

She barely made it to the branch Naruto and Haku were on before her body gave in to the pain that wracked her as Orochimaru's dark chakra burned through her inner coils. Her scream joined Sasuke's. 

* * *

Ito didn't need Yaone to tell him something had gone wrong. Sakura's screams were loud, piercing things-- and even if he only knew Sasuke was going through the same thing from his _Byakugan_-using friend, he shuddered to imagine the sort of pain inflicted upon them, "We've got to help them!"

Yaone nodded, "Do you think you can make it to their branch with your injuries?" 

"If you help me," Ito grunted, using the tree trunk beside the to climb to his feet, "But what are we going to do for protection? Even your _Byakugan_ won't allow you to protect five injuried and unconscious people." 

Yaone raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "Have you been a ninja for so long that you forgot what you were born to be?" 

Ito flushed, "Eh, I guess I never thought about that. Wouldn't it be cheating, though?" 

"We're ninja. It's impossible to cheat when you're a ninja," Yaone smiled at him, getting his arm over her shoulder, "That's what the First Exam told us, wasn't it?" 

Ito laughed, though it was cut off because of the pain in his chest, "Heh, I suppose you're right. C'mon, we need to get back to the battle site and hide them until they can battle again." It was a rough trip, Ito slowing them down, even though he tried several times to get Yaone to move faster. The younger ninja refused to do so, worried for her friend's injuries, despite his assurances that he would be alright. 

At the sight of the four downed ninja, Yaone regretted ever thinking that this 'adventure' would be a nice break from the tense world of wizardry. She hadn't known what to expect-- but the possibility of death, the possibility of being the one to kill someone... that had never occured to her. The realization that it could happen had only come with Hakuhyou killing the mist-nin, and at that point... her preconsieved notions of Harry James Potter had finally been completely shattered. She didn't know what to think anymore. 

But this didn't require thinking, now did it? This situation required relying on her senses and her instincts. Thinking would retard her reactions; could possibly delay her just long enough to get her killed. And considering she was the only one currently capable of protecting herself-- not to mention everyone else-- that would not be a good thing. 

Taking a steading breath, the brown-haired girl began to pull the konoha genin and Haku closer to the tree trunk, where Ito was slumped and trying to catch his breath without being obvious about it. She started when another set of hands appeared to help her haul the ninja back to the tree trunk. Looking up, she was about to scold Ito for injuring himself further-- only to realise that Ito was still slumped against the tree, and was watching in surprise. Sen stood beside her, in his fully human 'henge'-- as they had decided to explain Sen's variable appearance to the ninja. He wasn't looking at her. 

"Fre... Sen?" she wondered, staring at him as he swept Sakura into his arms. The redhead paused to contemplate the bark of the branch before sighing. 

"Sorry," was all he said. Yaone stared at his back, surprised-- though not as surprised as the blonde in her arms. Naruto was still conscious, Kyuubi's chakra regenerating at an incredable rate. He still wasn't quite able to move on his own, but it was only a matter of time. 

"Wha..." 

Yaone looked down at him in surprise, "Blondie?" 

"Haku calls him Naruto," Sen murmured, setting Sakura down beside his brother. The doll returned to pick up his leader, easily passing the girl who was still struggling with Naruto. She was weaker than the boys on her team, and her own injuries hardly helped, but Sen knew from experience that the girl wouldn't accept his help. She didn't like being forced to depend on anyone else. He didn't think she had cared to do so in the five years she'd been at Hogwarts. Being nearly killed due to the lack of knowledge or ability to protect herself probably had something to do with it. 

"What," Naruto worked his jaw in an attempt to 'warm it up'. He could feel his chakra flow shifting from focusing on repairing his torso and limbs, to 'empowering' his face-- specifically his jaw-- and speech was getting easier, "What happened?" 

"I'm not exactly sure," Yaone sighed, tugging him back to the tree, "Sen, watch these guys. I need to put up some barriers," This would take a bit of work-- trying to remember spells she'd never practiced, only ever read about. Not only that, but she would have to layer the spells. She didn't know, exactly, how to do that, but she hoped that her Byakugan would help her see what she needed to in order to build the spells. She hoped that she would be able to see mana the same way she could see the inner coils in her teammates. 

Drawing in a breath, she focused as best she could, and withdrew her wand. Her memory scrambled for the correct motions-- at this point, she could only hope that intent meant more than a swish of the wand, "_**Obmoliorsaeptum... vigorlaten... praestigiae-caudex!**_" She fumbled the latin, not quite sure if the words were the ones needed. But that didn't matter, as a glowing net of visible mana began to weave around their group. It extended far up and down the tree, and out along the branch they were laying on. Over top of the weave, patches of bark began to appear. 

It moved at a moderate rate-- hardly instantaneous, but fast enough that they didn't need to worry. Settling down beside her teammates and the konoha genin, the witch let out a ragged breath. Thank merlin that had worked. If it hadn't... well, even with Sen to back her up, they would likely have been easy prey. 

She could feel a steady drain on her mana stores, and knew that the sheild wouldn't last long past dawn. Still, that meant she had a chance to sleep, which would be nice. 

Thankfully, she mused as she settled in to catch some shut-eye and let her body restore itself, Sasuke and Sakura had stopped screaming. They didn't need to be tracked down due to the pained cries. She didn't have any doubt that the barrier and subsquesent illusion wouldn't be able to hide any sound. Just before she dozed off, she murmured out of the corner of her mouth, "It's na'sound proof..." 

Sen nodded, distracted by patching up his brother. Even Naruto understood the need to be silent as he struggled into control of the rest of his body. Chakra drain wasn't something he'd felt often-- maybe only once in his life if he actually considered it-- and it hurt to move. The snake had done a pretty wicked job on him. Which reminded him... blue eyes opened wide as he took in the mist-nin stretched out beside him, "Haku..." 

"He's alright," Sen's voice was low, barely audible, though with the Kyuubi actively using it's power to heal him, Nauto heard it without a problem. The tweleve year old didn't even turn away from the fifteen year old. 

"I... I thought he was dead, you know?" 

"It takes a lot more than a single attack to kill the Boy Who Lived," Sen shot the blonde a strained smile, "Though I should have helped. I could have! But I..." Sen shook his head, "...no, nevermind." 

"Nevermind what?" the little fox was curious-- what had this strange boy, who looked exactly like Ito, been about to say? Wait... "Boy Who Lived?" 

Sen finally turned away from his brother when Ito had dozed off, all his injuried bandaged. Bandaging Sakura and Sasuke took a couple more minutes, and the doll used it to consider how he was going to answer that. Finally, the redhead decided to go with a partical truth. As a prankster of the level that he was, the lightning generator had a lot of experience weaving half truths, "Haku... You have to remember this was back before Ito, Yaone and I met him. Back before he meet Boss Zabuza, actually. He was hit with a technique that, until used against him, was one hundred percent lethal. No one had ever survived it-- and it wasn't exactly unknown. Our entire community knew it, but it was forbidden to use... well, no, there were certain government people allowed to use it, but the Killing Curse was used on Haku by someone who was attempting a coup." 

Naruto blinked cluelessly, "Coup?" 

"It's short for coup d'etat. It means a hostile take over. Anyways, Haku had survived this technique, when no one else ever has before or since. He went down in our history as 'the Boy Who Lived'-- though no one actually knows who he is; what he looks like and his name. Haku is a very private person." 

"Wow..." Naruto frowned, "But... Haku told me..." he hesitated. Did this guy know Haku's past? Had the mist-nin kept it from him? Sen was watching him curiously, and Naruto decided to just jump in. If the water was too deep... well, he knew how to swim, "...He didn't have a good life. But he was famous-- why wouldn't he have a good life?" 

"Because of who... of what... he was. Boss Zabuza told us that he thinks the reason that Haku survived the Killing Curse was because of the same power that lets him control ice and mirrors." 

A look of dawning understanding crossed the blonde's face, and Sen briefly wondered what he said that had jived with what Potter had previously said to the boy. He didn't get any answers, however, as Naruto had already moved onto the next topic, even though his eyes were drooping and his body was screaming for sleep. It was easily to repair the body while the mind was actively undoing the hard work of the chakra and the blood, "So... Zabuza's alive...? And... who're you?" 

"Yeah," Sen nodded, "Boss Zabuza is alive. And I'm Sen; Yaone is the girl, and Ito is... well, can you keep a secret?" he'd already screwed himself over, keeping the 'henge' going, even after Ito had fallen asleep. 

Naruto nodded rapidly, "Yeah!" 

"You sure?" Sen raised an eyebrow, "I seem to recall Haku introducing you as 'konoha's loudest ninja, Uzumaki Naruto'." 

Naruto laughed, "But I'm just talking about myself! Why would I want to talk about you?" 

That caused the wizard to join him in laughter, "Fine, fine. Ito and I are brothers. But we had a little... accident. I've been sealed in a doll so that I can stay alive-- okay, so alive in the wrong word, you can stop laughing now-- and while I can transform myself to look the way I did before the accident, I don't have as much ma... chakra as my teammates. So we've let Ito play puppeteer." 

The konoha genin looked confused, which was rather adorable when you considered how sleepy the boy appeared, "I thought you could only have... three people on a team..." 

"I've been a doll since before my brother and I teammed up with Yaone and Haku. You should sleep, kiddo." 

"M'not a kid," but he was nodding off already, and Sen was left to himself, sitting on the branch and staring up through the semi-transparent innards of the illusion. From the outside it would appear solid, but from the inside he could still slightly see the outside world. 

In boredom, he began to pass a small spark from hand to hand. The crackle of the electricity was loud, though Sen didn't think it was loud enough to draw attention to their little group. 

Unfortunately, the ninja of the Hidden Village of Sound weren't exactly normal. They had heard the electricity, and had come to investigate. That the sound came from /_within_/ a tree was surprising, but only so long as it took to realise that there was an illusion hiding whoever was within. 

Doku smiled coldly, voice soft, "We'll wait until the genjutsu breaks. Who ever is running it will be so out of chakra that they'll never be able to help defend themselves." 

Zaku arched an eyebrow, "Aren't we supposed to be looking for Uchiha?" 

"For all we know he's on the other side of the forest," Kin crossed her arms, "Why are we waiting here, Dosu?" 

The larger genin just grinned beneath his bangages, "I have a hunch..." 

* * *

End Chapter Seventeen 

Not as long as I had hoped for, especially not with all the delay that it took to get out. I apologise for that.

* * *

Many thanks to _silverbluenchantress, Mystic Neko-chan, Firehedgehog, Tanya, **Kaaera **((You ever get yourself a copy of Naruto?)), **Chibi-Naru** ((Oh my god! The capitals!)), **Irihi** ((Breakfast of champions, ne?)), gaul1, and **phoneix catcher** ((sorry I didn't catch you before putting up ch16))._

**E.A.V.** - My apologises for it being confusing. I'm open to suggestions on how to make it easier to read/understand. 

**Draco** - Sasuke did as Sasuke cannonly did. I didn't want to change him too much. I apologise for the long wait. 

**May** - You lazy arse. 

**Nytingale** - You have to remember that our little ninja team came from the future, and that Haku had already watched all this occur. He doesn't know all the events-- he couldn't watch all the time-- but he does know of a fair number of them. 

**Ran** - _::grins::_ You'll just have to wait and see, ne? 

**Akua** - Cliffies are fun. Yeah, I'm on Gaia. I have two user names... now lets watch me try and remember either of them... ah-ha! I remember now! My username is Tch-- it's Itch without the 'I'! ...Okay, so it's a random noise usually made when annoyed. Heh... 

**Kanashii** - You do have the strangest ideas out there. To be honest, I adore Sakura-chan. She's my second favorite character _((as everyone should know by now that my favorite character is Rock Lee))_

**Xyverz** - Well, if there's anything I can do to help explain... maybe a "dictionary of terms" or some such thing at the end of the prologue? Would that be of any help in understanding this mess of a crossover? 

**Strata** - Bidah. And this took longer than I thought it would, too. O'course, I could have just been delaying it to bother you... _::pauses:: _Note to self, annoy Strata some more. Like... by dangling IS-R before his nose. Yesh, a good plan, a good plan. Mwaha. _::blinks innocently::_ You can stop listening now. 


	18. chapter 18

My apologises for the lack of updates. I've been busy lately. 

And lazy. I'd like to think that I'm a Nara. I'm about lazy enough.

Anyhoo, if you want to know what I was so busy with, then that would have to be-- hold on, my father is jumping around like a demented jack-rabbit, playing with my puppy-dog. I must go laugh.

Okay, now that he's done, and my dog is sufficently hyper and attacking me-- damn you, dad!-- you should check out my Priest Li Xiang account to discover what I've been up to. The Naruto Fanfiction Awards! Yay!

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Eighteen  
The Itch

* * *

Morning had come, and with it, came consciousness. To some members of their party, at least. Sasuke and Sakura were still unnaturally still and quiet, Yaone out cold due to the extreme lack of chakra and mana, and Haku... well, no one was quite sure what was wrong with Haku. He was just... dead to the world. None of Sen's spells had brought him out of it. Then again, they hadn't brought Sasuke and Sakura out either. And it was safer for Yaone to rebuilt her mana stores naturally when in a dangerous setting like the one they were in.

Naruto was sleeping, and Ito was far to injured to do anything. Sen didn't know any healing magic-- he'd never really seen the need to have any. They had potions for that, didn't they?

But they didn't have the ingredients to make them, and the younger Weasley didn't want to try substitution right now. Who knew what the consequences could be! He'd already had one horribly screwed up spell done to him, and he already had a huge practical knowledge of "things that don't work"-- if Yaone was awake, he was sure that she would know what they could mix together to create a healing draught, but she wasn't.

Sen himself was only barely awake, having spent the whole night up. It wasn't that he didn't trust Yaone's skills in weaving mana and chakra-- he just didn't know how long it would last with her injured the way she was.

Sighing, the teenager began passing a ball of lightning from one hand to the other, he stared up at the illusion. The electricity was probably the only thing keeping him awake-- when he lost control of it, due to his lack of sleep, it would shock him back into wakefulness. He contemplated sending a tiny electric shock through his teammates and Haku's friends, but that just might make the damage worse. That would not be good.

He almost didn't see the illusion fading away as Yaone's mana stores were finally wiped out. The rustling of the branches had caught his attention, and he gripped the lightning in one hand. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up-- the night had not been a pleasant one. Was that Snake-Bastard returning to finish the job he'd started before? There was no way he could fight the man on his own, and everyone else was out cold.

He brought himself to a complete halt, and felt silly for the pounding of his heart when he realized that his "opponent" was a mere squirrel, "Oh, now I feel stupid." He shook his head, letting the charge he'd been building bleed away. It had to be done slowly, so that he didn't chance it jumping to one of his friends. Unlike them, Sen didn't wear any conductive metal. Or any metal at all. He'd learned his lesson months ago, after electrocuting himself.

It was only as the squirrel started running towards him that he realized that there might be a problem. With a flick of his wrist, he threw what remained of the electricity at the squirrel-- not hitting it, but making it close enough that the animal could feel it. The squirrel abruptly changed directions, still running full out.

High above him, and watching with some curiosity, was the trio of Sound-nin. Dosu's hunch had been correct, it seemed. As the illusion had faded away-- admittedly, after much longer than had been expected-- two groups of ninja had been revealed. To their surprise, it wasn't even two groups from the same village. One group was Mist-nin, and one group was Leaf-nin. This didn't make much sense to the Sound-nin, but that didn't matter. Because one of the downed ninja that was revealed was their target: Uchiha Sasuke.

Zaku frowned, "Did he figure out that there was an explosive tag on the back of the squirrel?" It had been camouflaged to match the squirrel's fur, though he knew if the squirrel had gotten closer by about five feet then it would have been easy to see.

Dosu smirked behind his bandages, "No. That's not it."

"Yeah? Then, why-- explain."

"We will probably find out if we get closer," he pushed the leaves of the thin branch they were hiding on out of the way, "So let's get going, soon." His plan was to draw the conscious member of their little band away from the tree-limb, and from there Kin and Zaku could take care of Uchiha.

Sen was starting to nod off, not having remade the ball of electricity. He needed-- wanted-- sleep so badly...

A soft laugh pulled him out of his drifting thoughts, "Not sleeping, and taking the watch for the entire time... but there's no need to do so. Can you wake Sasuke-kun? We want to fight him."

Sen found his mouth going dry at the sight of the three ninja standing in the middle of their branch. This... was not good. Bolstering his failing courage, the Gryffindor turned fully to face the challenge, "What are you talking about? What is your purpose?" His eyes narrowed, "Are you aligned with the snake-bastard Orochimaru?" he and Naruto had talked off and on throughout the night; the blonde genin had woken up a few times, but Sen had sent him back to sleep, "We know that he's behind all of this!"

With his sleep fogged mind, he didn't notice the startled looks two of the Sound-nin send each other. Instead, his face darkened, "What are the bruises on Sasuke and Sakura's necks? You want to fight Uchiha after you did this to him?" he waved behind him, where the two suffering from Orochimaru's bite were laid out.

"I wonder, too, what is that person thinking?" no one could tell, but Dosu was frowning. Sen gave him a confused look, and Zaku smirked.

"But now that we heard that, we can't ignore it. I'll kill this guy, too. I'll even kill the Sasuke guy."

"Wait, Zaku," Dosu didn't even turn towards his fellow Sound-nin.

"What?"

Dosu took several steps forwards, "How unoriginal," bending down, he slipped his fingers under a large patch of bark, "There's no meaning to a trap if it isn't made well. The bark was out of alignment with the rest of the branch."

Zaku snorted, realization dawning, "So he tossed the static charge so that the squirrel wouldn't get caught in the trap."

"Let's kill him right away," Dosu cracked his neck in warm-up, and leapt. Kin and Zaku followed swiftly.

Sen's hard stare was suddenly turned into a smug smirk, and he grabbed hold of Naruto's kunai. It had been laying behind him, and he just twitched it slightly. A single thread was cut, and one of the 'branches' above their heads crashed down towards the Sound-nin.

They didn't have the time to use a jutsu to get rid of the huge branch-- it had been too close to their level when it came down. The three sound-nin used it as a bounding board, rocketing towards the branch below them, before ricocheting off back the way they'd come.

Unfortunately, Sen hadn't really though the trap out, and started cursing when the massive log crashed into the branch they had camped out on. It ripped the branch in two, and sent such a vibration through the remnants, that the mist-nin and his companions were thrown right off of it.

Cursing, he tried to grab his teammates and Naruto's-- but he just didn't have enough arms; not even for his own team. The ground was coming up too fast, there had to be something he could do...

Wandless magic! Haku had supposed, once upon a time, that wandless magic was done by using one's own chakra to direct the spell, instead of the magical core of the wand. He had lots of experience with directing chakra... so now he just had to direct his chakra like he'd subconsciously direct his wand's core. Oh yes, this would be _so_ simple.

He hoped he didn't crack his skull open when he landed.

"_**WINGUARDIUM LEVIOSA!**_"

Just before they hit the ground, he felt himself buoyed by the spell, and released a breath of relief that he hadn't gotten any of them killed. Their landing was soft and quiet as he released the spell. A grunt came from one of his companions; he didn't know who, nor did he really care at this point. The Sound-nins were coming at him again.

"Impressive," Dosu laughed, "But you need to work harder!"

Sen's eyes widened, and he began to rapidly build a charge-- this had to work! It had to!

But they were getting too close! He wouldn't have time to direct it... hopefully this wouldn't hurt his teammates or the konoha kids too much...

He just let go. Electricity blasted out in every direction, as Sen pumped his mana and chakra into keeping the blast going, all the while praying that this strategy would work. It had to! It just had to! He couldn't let them get to any of the others-- who knew what they wanted Sasuke for!

Though they were on different teams, and hadn't met until the day prior, Sen was a loyal sort. The only reason he was in Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff was because he had begged the hat to put him there so he could be with his twin. Even though Ito was sorted after him, Sen knew that his confident older twin would be in Gryffindor.

Sen wouldn't let anyone get hurt-- on purpose, at least-- if he could help it. He was the one who toned down Ito's ideas so that they weren't quite so wild. It was what made them a great team.

Sasuke didn't deserve to be left to these vultures when he couldn't even fight back, and Sen wouldn't allow that. Not at all.

The electricity began to die down, and he began searching his pockets for a pepper-up potion. It would temporarily revive his mana stores, and he could let out another blast. It wouldn't be quite as large, but it would hopefully-- his thoughts and actions were abruptly cut off as a hand wrapped around his throat and promptly slammed him into the ground.

The weakened and tired Weasley struggled against Zaku's grip; the other ninja did not look pleased at all. Electric burns skittered across his face, and his hair and clothing didn't look too good. Well that's what he got for wearing metal, a snickering voice told him in the back of his mind. Despite being choked, Sen had to smirk.

"Don't laugh at me!" Zaku snarled, pressing harder down on his windpipe, "I would have let you die a painless death--" he was lying, of course, "--But you just made me want to torture you to death. Goddammit, that _hurt_."

"It... was... supposed... to," Sen wheezed out, and Zaku decided that if he could still talk, obviously there wasn't enough pressure being used. He leaned over and began to let his entire body weight sit on the seventeen year old's throat. Sen clawed at that hand and arm, starting to get desperate for breath.

"_Haruno Tsuukagirei: Tsurukusakei,_" the voice was soft, almost weak-- but the vine that cracked Zaku across the face and sent him flying definitely wasn't. All eyes went to the pink haired girl who was on one knee, holding the thick vine whip in one hand. Haruno Sakura cracked a grin that didn't look too balanced-- a look not helped by the fact that she looked at though she were looking through her opponents, not at them.

Along her jaw, up the side of her face, and over one eye were the dark, tribal markings that the Sound-nin recognized as part of the Curse Seal of Orochimaru. They were so few and far between, however, that they were surprised to see them there at all. Normally, the splashes of black went across the whole body, and were much closer together...

Haruno climbed to her feet, still grinning, as Sen felt himself begin to pass out. The lack of oxygen hadn't been good for him, nor had expelling all that chakra. It was too bad he was going to miss this-- it should be quite the show.

But first... "Ha... Haruno..." he found that unnervingly "not-there" gaze set on him, "They... want to... kill... Sasuke."

And suddenly, she wasn't looking _through_ anyone anymore.

* * *

End chapter

Aren't I bitch?

Many thanks to _**Lucas** ((that's what I thought)), Jillian, Skyler K. Daemon, ReginaLucifer, Sierra-Falls, Hikagi, **Kanashii Wolf** ((Sakura's my second favorite character, even when she's whiney)) Chibi-Naru, Nytingale, Kaaera, gaul1, **May** ((have you gotten that 2nd tat yet?)), Tanya, Firehedgehog, **Akua** ((Well, he's not awake yet...)), EAV, Irihi, and DracoStarbo_

**Classical-Storyteller** - Thankyou for your kind words and the Haku plushie keychain. I will hold it and love it and care for it and call it... Haku. Because calling it 'George' would be wrong.

**AmicableAmi** - I'm not giving up. Okaasan is one way of translating 'mother' into japanese. "_Haha-ue_" is an overly polite, old way of saying mother. If you've ever watched "_The Last Samurai_", Taka is called "_Haha-ue_" at one point by one of her sons. I can't remember which one. Since Zabuza isn't japanese by birth, he just shorted it to Haha. ((_I also know the female equivallent for "_Oyagi_", but that's a whole 'nother thing._))

**Strata** - Omae o korosu back atcha. Your Byakugan-like powers of observation are good. I like Sakura too much to kill her off. Besides, she only had to suffer through one third of the Curse Seal. And now she's kinda like Farfie, only with nifty extra powers, and not the feel-no-pain thing. Sen sure knows how to fire her up, eh? Actually, he was just trying to get her to protect Sasuke. He doesn't know of her crush on him ;;

Hmmm, you were wrong about seeing my Cousin in Laziness and Neji this chapter. Next chapter, hopefully. My beautiful Lee is next chapter too. Fuu, I wanted him now, but I also wanted to get the chapter out before everyone jumps on the Strata Train of Mass Destruction and decides to kill me. Oh well, I'll just go back to watching Naruto, and seeing Lee. Or watching Bleach and seeing Ichigo. Yay Ichigo!

I'm considering making a Bleach HP xover. What do you think?

**Ran** - Yus, he only has part of the seal-- two thirds of it, actually. Oh, he's not going to go Level two. I don't like that. And I like making Sasuke weaker than Sakura, just because it's fun.


	19. chapter 19

Well, since I'm not going to work today ((_I've got a baby shower to go to at one, and what would the point of being at work for only an hour and a half?_)), I might as well start this thing. Possibly finish it too. It's been too long since I got chapters out at any regular rate, but I'd really like to get to Rock Lee. 

And Neji, so Strata will stop threatening my life ((_which, come to think of it, is impossible. He's been threatening my life for three years now. Isn't that sweet of him?_))

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Nineteen  
The Itch

* * *

Her mind still fuzzy from the pain radiating outwards from the her neck and shoulder, she couldn't really see the difference between Haku's team and hers. What she knew was that the redheaded male was down on the ground, and had been protecting her and her friends.

She had started the seals for the technique when she'd first been awoken when they hit the ground from the tree branch above. The technique required far to many, and she was still too slow to be able to use it in the midst of battle. Even the pain of being electrocuted was nothing compared to the pain that pulsed in time with her heart-- she kept forming the seals.

Even as the redhead was thrown to the ground and was beginning to be choked, all she did was make the seals; but she was nearing the end now, the technique was prepped. She just needed one more thing... with her left hand continuing the final seals of the technique, her right scrambled through the dirt around them. Usually, when performing the technique, she already had the item in hand, but she hadn't thought she'd get a chance to use her only original technique in the Exam.

The Rite of Passage: Vine Whip was a technique taught through the generations of her family. All descendants of the original Haruno who had crafted the technique had been named for plants-- this was just as much of a ritualized event as the Tsurukusakei's first working completion. For that was when the Haruno family declared the child an adult.

Sakura had never been able to make the whip work. She could only hope that in this time of need, that she could save her friends with a technique that only the adults of her family could do. This was why she never fully put herself behind her ninja path-- most of her family had completed the technique before becoming genin. And her she was in the chuunin exam...

Her fingers found a small branch, still green with life. It had probably been knocked down when their branch had hit the ground. It was good enough.

Pushing herself up onto one knee, Sakura drew the stick back and made the final seal.

"_Haruno Tsuukagirei: Tsurukusakei,_" her voice wobbled with the pain from the seal on her shoulder, but she ignored it. This was more important. With her words, she swung her arm, the branch transforming into the whip, and Inner Sakura whooped with glee. It had worked! It had _worked_!

Her target, of course, had been the idiot who was fool enough to be choking the redhead. He was flying backwards, and she felt herself grinning as Inner Sakura paraded around in the back of her mind, dancing, whooping, and cheering wildly. She pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly, and gazed at her opponents, trying to gauge their levels of strength.

As Sasuke had said, her strong point was her ability to analyze her opponents. The guy with the bandages looked like he might be the most dangerous to tangle with, but he was also willing to let his teammates fight first, if the wild-haired freak's attack on Redhead was any indication.

"Ha... Haruno..." when she looked down at Redhead, she found him blinking rapidly, as though that would keep himself awake, "They... want to... kill... Sasuke."

Sakura froze. What?

They wanted to _what_?

Something more than just her adoration for the boy flared up. Some dark pit in the midst of her stomach. She found herself growling, glaring at the Sound-nin that were regrouping. Her fist clenched around the whip-- not exactly a traditional weapon for Konoha ninja, but it was the one she had trained with most as a young child.

Inner Sakura was seething, and had she bothered to pay attention to the more violent half of her soul, she would have found herself frightened by the dark black marks that covered the psycho's entire body. She would have been terrified of the empty green eyes promising death.

But she wasn't paying attention to that other part of her. She didn't know that that same promise of death glinted out of her own eyes, and she had no idea that the black marks that had framed the side of her face had multiplied down her throat, disappearing into her clothing. She didn't know that they skittered like leopard prints down the outsides of her arms, or that they had been mirrored on the other side of her face. The pattern on her legs mimicked that which was on her arms.

Though they were still spread out more than normal for a Curse Seal, and they didn't actually touch anything but the edges of her face, and the outside of her arms and legs; it was still a frightening image.

I've watched them from behind for too long. It's time I went out and saved them.

Somehow, her thoughts echoed back to a dream she could barely remember, in a golden place... it couldn't have been that long ago, but it still felt distant. She didn't understand... but that didn't matter. What mattered was that these... these foolish ninja pay for attempting to hut her Sasuke-kun. They had nearly killed Redhead, who hadn't done anything more than protect the Uchiha survivor as well he should.

"So..." she found herself purring, flicking her wrist only slightly, just to hear the vine tip 'snap', "...you want to kill my Sasuke? You dare to even try?"

The bandaged one tipped his head, smirking slightly, "We dare, little girl. You don't even have the full seal-- you are still to weak to fight us. Kin?"

"With pleasure," the girl flashed a vicious grin, leaping at Sakura. The pink-haired genin smirked, swinging her whip up and around to slam into Kin's stomach, releasing a handful of shuriken with the other hand. But she had forgotten that she was not really fighting a one-on-one battle. The wild-haired freak leapt in front of the attack, all the while grinning. Flinging his arms out, the whip and the shuriken were blasted away.

Air pressure...? was all the time that she had to wonder, for Kin's leap had not been stalled in the slightest. The dark-haired girl had wrapped a fist in Sakura's pink locks hauling her backwards.

"Your hair is glossier than mine," Kin was speaking, though it was nothing like what Sakura had expected. Why the hell did the enemy care about her _hair_ of all things? "If you have time to care for your hair, train more!"

Oh-ho, was that it? Was Kin forgetting that she would have been down on the ground, crying in pain if it hadn't been for her teammate? Sakura was fighting alone, after all. Inner Sakura screeched in her ear, and Sakura listened to the psycho's plan.

"Trying to be sexy?" Kin let a pout into her words as she shook Sakura's head around, but the girl wasn't even listening to her. We wait for the opportune moment, she reprimanded her other half. The moment that the other least expected. The moment that would stun her long enough to have her throat slit, "Zaku! Kill that Sasuke-guy in front of this pig."

"Oh," Zaku chuckled, "that sounds good."

"Hey now..." the bandaged one rumbled, his eyes locking on the pink-haired girl. He could see something that his teammates could not, and Sakura leaned forwards slightly to grin at him.

"Don't move!" Kin barked, yanking Sakura back by her hair.

"Then let's do this," Zaku was grinning, pleased with the thought of bloodshed. Inner Sakura howled with laughter-- he didn't realize that it would be _his_ death, not any of her teams'. He began walking towards her teammates, towards Sasuke, and it was all Haruno could do to wait. When he got past Kin, however, a fierce grin ripped around she face. With her head held down by Kin, not even Dosu saw it. How... perfect.

She twisted, drawing out her kunai, and almost laughed as Kin snorted, "That won't work on me."

"What are you talking about?" and Kin could hear an echo of Inner Sakura in her captive's voice. She didn't know what that echo was, but it was beginning to frighten her, though she refused to let it show.

The knife came up, and Kin pulled her hand back, still grasping her hair. This was what Sakura had hoped for, though cutting Kin's hand off wouldn't have made things any worse. Her kunai sliced through her hair, setting her free from Kin-- and in the same twisting movement, Sakura let her whole body flow through the motion. One leg swung about, crashing into Kin's, and knocking her to the ground. In the next instant, Sakura had one knee planted into her chest, and the kunai pressed against the side of her throat.

"One twitch," Sakura smirked down at her opponent, "and I cut the artery wide open. You'll bleed out pretty damn fast." She looked up from Kin at the stunned Zaku, "Get any closer to my Sasuke, and I lodge this blade in her throat."

There was only a split second of warning, and Sakura leapt up, high above the attack that would have slammed her square in the back. Dosu pulled his fist back, looking up at the girl who was coming back down to earth, running at Zaku-- the one who, to her, was the most dangerous. He was, after all, closest to Sasuke.

"Stay back!" Zaku barked, "I'll deal with the brat!"

Having long since lost her whip-- it having reverted back into a stick, and it would take far to long to recreate it-- Sakura threw a handful of shuriken at Zaku. Had Haku been awake to see it, he would have recognized the attack. This was the same one he had watched months ago, and then attempted to perform on Zabuza. But he was not awake, and he would not be privy to seeing the attack for the second time.

She skidded to a stop as he prepared to fire off another attack composed of air pressure, "Air Cutter!"

Kawarimi! She vanished into a puff of smoke as her own weapons were fired back on her. Two more times they repeated this sequence of events.

"Heh, so obvious. You're above me," looking up, he did indeed find the girl falling upon him from high in the air. He smirked, withdrawing some of his own shuriken, "That technique will only one two or three times. This should be good enough for you." And he threw them at her. This time, however, he looked away before she 'poofed' away. If he had remained looking up at her, he would have realized two things-- that she had not 'poofed' away, and that she had ripped the weapons out of her own body and was prepared to use them on him.

It was only when her blood hit his cheek that he realized that he had, indeed, been had.

"What?!"

Her knees caught him in the chest, knocking his breath right out of him, and he found his own kunai rammed into the arm he'd thrown up to shield his body. The two of them crashed into the ground, Sakura taking far less damage, due to having the sound-nin between herself and the ground. Still, she fell forwards slightly, and used the momentum to her advantage.

Once upon a time, she'd played with the Inazuka puppies, a few weeks after they were born. There was one puppy who liked to bite _everything_. He was the runt of the litter, and obviously, he felt like this was the only way to get noticed. Sakura had not been to pleased to have the dog bite her clothing, her hands, even her hair and nose.

She didn't think Zaku would be to happy about that either-- though she didn't bite down on any of those.

No, she bit down, and bit down hard, on his lips. The taste of blood was obscenely delightful, and Inner Sakura whooped with glee at it.

Zaku threw her off of him, tearing his own lip in the process. Blood dripped down his face and he climbed back to his feet glaring at her. Sakura gave him a viscous smile, one that looked far to frightening with the combination of his blood on her face, her own blood splattered across her body from the wounds she had sustained in battle, and the Curse Seal that had she been healthy and whole, would have made her look like an exotic dancer.

Now, though, she looked like nothing more than a beast ready to take her pound of human flesh.

They leapt at each other, fists and feet flying. The rest of the Sound-nin team stood and stared. This wasn't a battle over Sasuke any more. This was a fight between the two of them, and the outside world no longer mattered. Kin, who's hand rested on the side of her neck that the kunai had been so close to, swallowed nervously. The last time Zaku had gotten into this state, half of the Village's training grounds ended up torn to shreds, and his opponent was dead.

He hadn't even recognized his teammates in that fight.

Dosu frowned. This wasn't good-- the girl was stronger than they had thought she was; it would take longer to get to Sasuke, and every minute he could feel Orochimaru's chakra get stronger in the boy. They had to kill him, and soon.

But any movements towards Zaku would mean that they began targets; and they would have to get around him to get to Uchiha. The only way that he could see to do this was to take out the girl. Certainly, Zaku would be annoyed to have his opponent taken down by someone else, but that could be worked out later.

Drawing back, he prepared to throw his own kunai at the girl.

"_Konoha Senpuu_!"

* * *

End Chapter

Ooooooookay, so I didn't get to Neji. Hell, even Lee only appears with that last line. Aiyah... well, Rock Lee appears next chapter, and things have certainly not gone the way Masashi Kishimoto did them!

But I got to make Sakura-chan fight. Yatta! And for those who are wondering... yes, Inner Sakura _did_ suck up most of Orochimaru's sick chakra. Ehehehehe, Sakura has her own version of Kyuubi now!

I'd like to extend my thanks to _Song Min Dao, insanechildfanfic, **Dragonmage** ((In the Harry Potter section)), Magicians of the Yami, Zero the Death Shadow, **Irihi Safaia** ((Look! It's far sooner than you likely expected!)), **Ran** ((you made me laugh so damn hard)), **ReginaLucifer** ((Sen Fred, Ito George)), and **Chibi-Naru** ((It's a special jutsu, ne?)) _

**Juuchan** - Wow, that was long! I'm happy that you agree with my use of Haha/Haha-ue for Zabuza's reference to his adoptive mother.

**Hattuteline** - Mmm, Haku wasn't sure that it would work-- and it doesn't mean that Kakashi _didn't_ see through it. After all, Tsunade and he did happen to know that they were still alive; after all, they had to have known in order to have contacted them for this mission of theirs. I mean, why would Sirius be talking about Haku and Zabuza-- in dog form, remember-- when there was no one to talk _to_? _::grins::_ Underneath the underneath, you know.

**Akuma-sama** - It hasn't been up in awhile to be read. Heh, divergence is fun. Yeah, once I close the Naruto plotline, then it's back to good old England, probably with our Cursed friends in tow. _::snickers::_ I hadn't thought of that when I thought of Doll!Fred, but that makes a disturbing sort of sense... ah, I'll be happy when I can have them start using their proper names again. It's so hard to write 'Sen', 'Ito' and 'Yaone', instead of 'Fred', 'George', and 'Hermione'.

It's spelt Tsunade, but I know who you meant. Yeah, they are pretty damn underpowered compared to the guys. So, I'm happy to make her stronger, because she's an interesting character, and deserves to be a better ninja. I mean, come on, she's got Kakashi for a teacher, and the two most powerful Konoha genin for teammates!

The URL didn't show, but these days, I normally get my Naruto episodes straight from the ANBU site.

**Akua** - _::snickers::_ Two HP/Naruto crossovers from me? You're putting a lot of faith in me... but that is an interesting idea. I think I shall make a drabble for it. Then I'll email it to you, and see if you like it. Then we can go from there on whether or not I actually write it. Did Sakura kick butt enough for you? Yosh! I love her! _::Rock Lee pose of Much Happy-Ness::_ I haven't been to Gaia for awhile... but I am on AIM. When I remember to turn the dratted thing on. I play a Naruto RP over MSN with some friends. The logs are on the livejournal community "withoutheartrp", if you'd like to look at them. I play Sakura

Maybe I'll get off my arse and show up on Gaia again sometime soon. But I suppose I'd have to remember my password too. Aiyah...

_::laughs::_ Poor Zabuza-san... he will return to have screentime sometime soon. So will Haku. He really needs to wake up here... Iruka! Hehe, he'd be so funny at Hogwarts ((_"What do you mean you don't have a class to teach taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu? I will teach it!"_))

**Strata** - Uhm... Hopefully... next chapter! The plot doesn't seem to want to let me let them in quickly. Please don't use the Card Captor Sakura Christmas Album-- I beg you! Irony is fun.

Yes, yes, I'll refrain for more crossovers ((_at least that you know of, mwahahahahahaha!_)) until I finish this one, and the Identity Series ((_I worked on it last night! Feel happy!_)) Vine Whip explaination... in story. Weee


	20. chapter 20

After four months of inactivity, my muse finally decided to break my writer's block. Using Konoha Renpuu, he threw me through the block, some time last night. It was kinda painful. And you know, I was supposed to be sleeping at the time. Why is it that I get all my cool ideas for stories and paintings/sketches/whathaveyou at 2am?

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty  
The Itch

* * *

Sakura and Zaku didn't even blink as the outsider entered the battle area. They had been so focused on one another, that neither had even realized that Dosu had been planning to remove Sakura from the equation when her vision had tunneled so much. 

Someone else, obviously, had.

Rock Lee landed lightly on the ground between Dosu and the two that fought like animals. He glanced quickly at the girl he loved so much, and nearly stumbled. Dark black spots patterned he skin oddly, with mud streaked down her cheeks-- she looked like what he imagined the big cats from Grass if they had become human.

It was exotic, but the pure... malevolence on her face frightened him. Could she truly be that... tainted... on the inside?

No, he shook his head free of such silly thoughts, noticing the five unconscious ninja on the ground-- three mist-nin, two leaf. She was obviously just protecting them. She was like a fierce mother tiger, protecting her precious young! _Oh, Sakura-chan!_

He would join her, like the great tiger would join his mate and protect their children!

Lee narrowed his eyes at Dosu, having never fully removed his attention from the man, despite his ruminations on Sakura. That would have been a folly.

"You need to work harder," Lee would have smirked, if that was in his character. As it was, he just smiled at them, "Attacking someone who's already in battle-- how disgraceful."

"Who are you?"

"Konoha's green beast-- Rock Lee!" He would have posed, too, but that wasn't the best idea in this situation. He raised his hand, and the squirrel that had been riding on his shoulder stepped onto it. Carefully, the boy in green spandex set the creature on the ground.

"I'll kill you for interfering," Dosu hissed, "This battle has nothing to do with you."

"I promised to protect Sakura-chan until death. I will not break that promise," he was no longer smiling at his enemy.

"It's your death," Dosu pulled his right sleeve up, revealing the odd metal gauntlet. Beneath his bandages, the sound-nin grinned viciously. This guy appears to know taijutsu, quite well. He could have some fun with him.

The bandaged ninja took off, barreling down the short distance between him and the younger leaf ninja. Lee dropped to the ground, burying his arm in, nearly up to his shoulder. Dosu's brow furrowed, and he leapt into the air, having expected a genjutsu or ninjutsu to have come up from underneath him.

Instead, Rock had pulled one of the roots of the tree above them right out of the ground, using it to block Dosu's attack.

The sound-nin bounced off the root, flinging himself back from the odd leaf-nin. He'd never seen someone do _that_ to block an attack.

"Your attack has some sort of trick to it, right?" Rock explained, "So I won't it dodge in a normal way. I saw your move before." _I'm going to have to gamble... there's still the girl to worry about. And I'm not sure how long Sakura-chan can hold out against the other guy._

He risked a glance out of the corner of his eye at the kunoichi; her teeth were buried in her opponent's arm. She yanked her head away-- and a large chunk of flesh went with it.

_I will defeat them one at a time with everything I have!_

* * *

"We can't find any weak looking people at all!"

"Actually," Nara Shikamaru drawled, "Naruto's team is probably the only one weaker than us."

"You idiot! Do you know what you're saying!"

"What?" He honestly looked confused.

"Naruto and Sakura _are_ weak!" Ino shoved her finger into his face, her own narrowed with annoyance, "But they have the super genius Sasuke-kun with them! "

"I don't know about that," he shrugged, turning away, "Geniuses can become real fragile in real combat."

"What...?" Ino growled in fury. She could be real scary sometimes.

"Fine fine, I'm sorry I upset you," he really wanted to roll his eyes. How annoying. _What a troublesome girl-- she always glares when I talk bad of Sasuke._

"There's no way Sasuke-kun can be defeated!" she was prancing around pretending to fight. It was actually kind of sad-- she was a ninja, and even her pretend fighting sucked, "Although Sakura can be."

Above them, the last member of their genin team had been munching on some of the fruits from the tree he was sitting in. Chouji had been up there for quite some time-- but it was only as he finished off one of the fruits, that he actually glimpsed the battle that was taking place not to far from them. His eyes widened in shock, "Eh, Sasuke's on the ground. And Sakura's fighting."

Ino and Shikamaru looked up at their teammate. The blonde frowned, "What did you say?" glancing at the lazy Nara, she nodded, and the pair leapt up to land on the branches to either side of Chouji.

He was shading his eyes, watching in horror and fascination. Was that really Sakura fighting? He could ignore the other leaf-nin who was taking on one of Sakura's opponents, but he couldn't ignore Sakura.

He'd never seen his former classmate like that. It was frightening.

Ino gasped in shock as she laid her own eyes on the sight. This... this was unlike anything else. She'd been Sakura's best friend once upon a time but she had never, _never_ seen Sakura fight so animalistically. That was something one expected from the Inazuka Clan. The Haruno were well known for being calm and collected in battle-- they had to be to use any of their family techniques.

Sakura had thrown all that out of the window, apparently.

* * *

"He's late. That Lee..." Tenten was frowning down at the kunai buried in the ground. Where was their teammate? "Something's wrong. He's always on time. Maybe he encountered an enemy?" A thought struck the kunoichi, "Did he...!"

"That's not possible," Hyuugi Neji finally deigned to speak, smirking slightly, before opening his eyes and frowning, "Anyway, let's go look for Lee."

Tenten gave a grunt of agreement, and the pair leapt up into the trees. As he had told Tenten, it was not possible for Lee to have been taken out of the picture. The over enthusiastic 'hard work genius', after all, had Maito Gai's forbidden technique.

_The only condition was..._

* * *

_Gai-sensei, I will now use the move without reservation._

Lee unwrapped the bandages that wrapped around his arms, under Dosu' curious gaze. The Sound-nin didn't know what the boy was doing, but he assumed that it was some sort of technique.

A technique that he wanted to see, and perhaps, steal. After all, he too wore bandages.

_Because now is the time to..._ Dosu had lunged forwards as soon as the boy appeared to have finished removing his bandages.

"_...protect an important person!_" he could hear his beloved teacher's voice over his own, as Gai informed him of the condition to using the painful, and lethal, technique.

And Rock... moved.

"He disappeared?" Dosu's eyes bounced around the clearing.

He did not, however, look down, which was where Lee had dropped. The leaf-nin's foot came up, and he kicked Dosu high into the air.

At the same time, Sakura was thrown off of Zaku, slamming hard into the ground completely on the other side of the clearing from her opponent. He took that moment to get his bearings of the area around him, and his eyes widened. When had this other guy arrived? And what was he doing...?

"I'm not done yet!" Rock yelled, leaping after his own opponent. The bandages that he had loosened suddenly seemed to have a mind of their own, wrapping around Dosu's body and holding him immobile.

Sakura shook her head out, growling fiercely, but her rough landing had knocked some sense back into her, and Inner Sakura slunk back for a moment. She blinked in surprise.

"Lee...?" what was he doing here? When had he gotten here?

Rock wrapped his arms around the bound sound-nin, and flipped them around, driving them back towards the ground. It would be painful, if he landed with his opponent, so Lee prepared himself to let go and jump away before he could get damaged.

"That's not good!" Zaku was watching Dosu and Rock, instead of Sakura. Normally, that would have been a bad thing, but the pink-haired ninja had collapsed in exhaustion on the ground. She needed a breather, before she would be able to take her opponent on again, "He won't be able to break the fall like that!"

The curse seal began to fade.

Zaku's hands started flashing in a series of seals, and he prepared to help his teammate.

"Take this!" Lee wrenched his body to the side, sending them into a wild spin, straight down, "Omote Renge!"

Just before they hit, Lee jumped away. But... something was wrong. He'd felt something. Something... different.

Zaku grinned darkly at the boy, and Rock realized that he had gained an audience in the form of the two that had been battling so ruthlessly.

"Well, well, it looks like I made it in time."

The ground had bulged where Dosu had landed, and in two straight lines from where Zaku's hands were buried in the ground.

This was... not good, Rock winced slightly, as the upside down Dosu pulled himself out of the ground. He shook the dirt off of his bandages, but he knew that he'd have to replace them; he could feel some of the dirt that had gotten through and was rubbing against his skin.

"That was a terrifying move. I was dropped onto this sponge ground, and it still hurt like hell..."

Lee was panting, the first gate closing once more. He couldn't hold it open any longer, or it would kill him. Dosu pulled his sleeve up again.

"Now it's my turn."

_This isn't good... my body is still weak from that move._ It would be weak for awhile yet, he knew. His body had to readjust itself before he would be of any real use in battle. The was a reason it was forbidden, outside of being lethal if held for too long.

Once more, Dosu lunged at Lee, feet flying as he ran. An explosion of sound right as he passed the younger ninja, caused his vision to waver, and his ears to ring.

"Your move is indeed fast. But our moves are the speed of sound, and exceed yours."

Rock collapsed.

"I will teach you that there is a wall that you can't get past just with hard work alone."

Sakura growled. She may not like Rock Lee the way he wanted her too, but that didn't mean he wasn't a nice guy. He was fighting her opponents, after all-- and since his teammates weren't around, that meant he had some other reason to do it, than for the scrolls.

Rock pitched forwards, vomiting blood.

"My left ear..."

"There's a little trick in my armor. Just dodging it won't help."

Dosu had rendered him unable to fight. What had he done to Lee...? She was fighting her own exhaustion to try and get back on her feet. With the Curse Seal having faded from her body, Inner Sakura had, as well.

"It's sound. You dodged my fist, but the sound attacked you."

"Sound?"

It was unnerving, her more violent alter ego's apparent disappearance. Not having that voice in the back of her mind was undermining her confidence. It had been there since she was but a baby-- where could it have possibly gone?

"Do you know what sound is?"

"Vibrations," Sakura grunted out, to the surprise of pretty much everyone. She wavered where she stood, but she wasn't dead yet; she would not lay down until she was bleeding out-- and even then, not until it was all across the ground.

She would not be left to look at the backs of her teammates!

"Correct," Dosu chuckled, getting over his surprise. The girl kept showing herself to be stronger than he had assumed. He tugged on his ear, "Being able to hear something means that your eardrum catches the vibration in the air-- and the human eardrum with shatter at anything above 150 decibels. On top of that, by applying a shock to the semicircular canals, an opponent will lose his sense of balance."

He laughed, "You won't be able to move your body well for awhile."

Rock didn't know if he should be happy or not that they hadn't realized that his own technique would render him unable to properly fight back.

"Your out dated hand-to-hand combat moves won't work on us. It was effective for awhile, but I showed you my technique."

"Funny," Sakura grunted, "I seemed to do just fine."

Zaku shot her a glare, and she smiled sweetly at him. He was still bleeding from the chunk of flesh she'd removed from his upper left arm. It wasn't a debilitating strike-- he'd proven that already-- but it was like a leak. Slowly weakening him.

The idiot hadn't even wrapped it yet. Was he trying to prove himself strong-- or was he so clueless as to how the human body worked, that he didn't think he needed that blood? Sakura herself had taken a moment while watching Dosu and Lee to bind the worst of her own wounds.

They weren't the best bandages. They weren't even good bandages. It was more like she stuck pieces of fabric in place, and let the blood seal them there. Hopefully, they'd do until they could get out of this mess.

"So it's not going to go as smoothly as you thought it'd be," Zaku returned his attention to Lee, "I can control supersonic waves and air pressure-- and I'm even capable of destroying rock."

Rock's eyes widened-- that was what happened? He had thought that Zaku was an earth-user, had used a ninjutsu to soften the earth; not air to destroy it.

"I can send air into the ground and make it a cushion as well."

Lee wanted to make a comment about not being dumb, and figuring it out himself, but that might just bring them down on him before he was prepared to fight back.

"It's different from your dumb moves," and just to emphasis, Zaku showed Lee his hands, and the vents there in. He expelled the air that he had gathered in them, smirking viciously at the leaf.

_Dammit...!_

"Okay!" Dosu grinned behind his mask, "Time to do what I had intended to do before you interfered, boy!" He practically flew across the clearing, headed straight for the still wobbly Sakura.

_Shit...! Inner, where are you!_

_Shit! Sakura-chan!_ Lee twisted, awkwardly coming to his feet. He couldn't let her get hurt! She was his most important person-- more important than even Gai-sensei!

Sakura pulled her kunai out, ready to defend herself-- but Lee had thrown himself in the way, leg coming up to kick Dosu.

"That can't be!"

"Konoha Senpuu!" It wasn't anywhere near as fast as his previous moves, but it was still quick. Just... not quick enough. Dosu slapped the leg down, easily dodging the weakened attack.

"Hehe, it looks like my previous attack was effective!" He took a couple of steps back, before jumping at them again, "You surprised me a bit... but I don't see a trace of your chain combo that was executed in a flash!"

He punched, Lee blocked-- and sound was once more expelled from his gauntlet, "This arm amplifies the sound that is generated inside to its maximum, like a speaker!"

"Lee-san!" it was more of a gasp that Sakura wanted it to be, but she could change herself in the course of one battle... well, two, but the one with Orochimaru didn't really count as a battle.

"But the sound of impact is not to limited the direction of my hand, I can use my Chakra and join it to the target!"

Rock gave a choked cry of pain, his ears throbbing, and blood dribbling down the side of his face. It hurt so much...!

"LEE!"

The thirteen year old dropped to the ground, a puppet with his strings cut. There didn't seem to be anything he could do-- not even move his head to look towards Sakura, who he had been trying to protect. He had failed...

"Now then, time to finish you off..."

"_I WON'T LET YOU!_" Sakura shrieked, hurtling her shuriken at Dosu. The sound-nin easily blocked them with his gauntlet.

"Geez," Dosu shook his head, "You think you can still fight? You can barely stand, girlie."

They had been watching for awhile, hiding in the bushes. The team was horror stricken-- they had watched Sakura and Lee fight, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that things had just gone from bad to worse. Lee was down, and Sakura fighting alone.

"Come on," Chouji hissed, "Let's run away. They're dangerous."

He didn't know if he was talking about the sound-nin, or about Sakura.

This was unlike anything they'd seen before. This was nothing like the missions they had taken, nothing like what they had been prepared for.

And yet... Sakura seemed to know what to do. She's only been a Genin for as long as they had, but she seemed to know more than they did about these situations. How? Had the stories of their mission to Wave country been true?

Everyone had just thought that Naruto had been making things up, telling tall tales about battling the infamous Momochi Zabuza-- had he, perhaps, been speaking truth? Was this where Sakura had learned to be so... vicious? Dangerous?

"Looks like Sasuke and Naruto are out of it," Shikamaru observed, "So are the mist-nin."

That was confusing, too-- why were Mist-nin piled with the unconscious leaf-nin?

"But even lee is getting beaten," Shikamaru continued, "and now it's just Sakura. What are you going to do, Ino?"

"What, you ask?" her eyes were glazed with fear.

"Sakura's in danger. Is that okay with you?" Nara was getting annoyed. Were his teammates really this fragile? "You two were best friends, right?"

Ino bit her lip, fear and worry for her former friend overcoming her. They hadn't been friends since Sakura had decided that their shared like of Sasuke meant that they couldn't be friends anymore.

"Hey, Ino. What are we going to do?" Shikamaru was prodding her again. She hated it when he did that!

"I know we have to help, but we can't do anything! We can't just jump in there," well, they could. _And they could get killed, too._" Her knees were shaking something fierce.

Sakura had run forwards, leaping over Dosu and using Zaku's head as a spring board to attack Kin. Dosu was to strong for her, and she'd already fought Zaku. Kin was the freshest of them all-- and the reason behind her shortened hair.

Sakura loved her hair. The pink that was on the ground, though... she let loose an animalistic howl, drawing a pair of kunai from her bag. They were her last two-- she'd have to make this count.

"Sasuke and Naruto are in trouble!" Shikamaru's hiss was soft, and unheard by those in the clearing. But while Sakura was fighting Kin, Zaku was headed towards their original objective-- Sasuke.

* * *

End Chapter

**Ino**: _Sakura's caught in the middle of a game of 'pin the shuriken on the ninja'! Why are Sasuke-kun and the others unconscious-- especially with the amount of noise we've been making? Ino-Shika-Cho to the rescue! We'll save you Sasuke-kun!_ **Ino**: _Huh? What's that feeling, coming from Sasuke-kun...?_

* * *

I am such a geek. I had to do that XD

Hey look, Strata, Neji made his appearance! But it was mostly Lee. YAY LEE! pulls out pom-poms from nowhere Lee! Lee! Yaaaay Lee!

Onto the reviews.

Many thanks to _Destiny's Dragon, Zhuyou, **Deathscythe Custom**((sorry hun, BS just isn't going anywhere in my head)), **obsydia** ((pairings? So far, no. Maybe in the future. Maybe not)), **Son Min Dao** ((Lee fans unite! Look, lots of Lee here!)), **Ran** ((feh, Lee and Neji showed up. So no Gaara-type overkill)), **Keira** ((they'd just assume that he has a contract with snakes, too.)), **Irihi Safaia** ((hmm... four months...)), **Mayhem** ((It's after Christmas, you got it yet? I keep changing my mind on what I want for my second tattoo ;;)), **Akua** ((You do indeedies have a long review... sorry about the long wait for the update)), ReginaLucifer, Firehedgehog,_ and _Chibi-Naru_

**Juuchan** - hehe, surprised you, did I :_chuckles_: Farfie-poo? You scare me, m'dear. I'm glad you enjoy my characterization of Zabuza-san. He's one of my overall favorite characters, and I'm happy that I'm doing him justice. I love Sirius Nin-dog, too. Can you just see him using his EBIL NINJA-DOG POWAAZ to pull pranks? It'd be a hoot.

**Tombadgerlock** - wow... you reviewed almost every chapter-- and Zabuza isn't heartless, or did you miss his entire death scene? He's just a cold hearted bastard. Like Sasuke.

**DracoStarbo** - Well I'm glad you liked 'em, hun. Oh, my Sakura is so psychotic some times... even the one that's not from FYD. :_laughs_: Sen was just so happy to help me write that scene, even though he got his poor little ass kicked. Kid's not a ninja, but he tries, y'know? I should get my hands on the manga. I'm just too lazy to do it. That and the only store I know of that sells it is a ways away, and there's nowhere to park. I don't want to take the bloody train. It's been four months, though, since you wrote that... read any further into the series?

**Strata** - I hate you. Your Card Captor Sakura Christmas Album threat is the worst I have ever seen. I beg thee-- do not play it. :_smiles cheerfully_: I like ripping things off. It's fun. Yes, I did realise that I turned Team Seven into Berserkers. Berserkers with power. Damn, they is cool... the point isn't to have them pass the Chuunin Exam. Everyone knows that they won't, anyways. The point is for me to have a completely divergent timeline for both universes. And as previously stated-- look! Neji! And he actually TALKS. Amazing! I could see it happening too. I can also see what I wrote above-- Lee thinking she's not psycho, just protecting her 'special someones'. Hehehehehe XD


	21. chapter 21

I need to take a break from digging holes. Bloody stupid clay. I have to go eight more inches down before it's at the depth it's supposed to be at, and that's going to take me another half hour. It's taken two hours to get one an a half feet in. Bleh. Why did I decide to do this again...? 

Oh, right, Ichigo. I swear, I should have named that damn dog Naruto. He's about as intelligent... though I don't think Naruto's eaten rocks before...

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty One  
The Itch

* * *

_What the...!_

Nara Shikamaru was quite frequently taken surprised by Ino, so he shouldn't have been quite so surprised that she did what she did. Even though the blonde and the pink haired shinobi hadn't been friends for a couple years, there was still a bond between them. Even if that bond's name was Sasuke... the two girls would always have each other's back.

That was why he'd followed a split second after Ino, to get in between Sasuke and the Sound. That was why he'd dragged Chouji by his scarf. Although, he'd never admit to that.

_They just keep swarming in..._ Dosu was kind of annoyed by this. Where did all these stupid leaf-nin come from? "Konoha's bugs have wandered in here again."

The glare caught Chouji, and the large ninja shuddered. No, this wasn't something that he wanted to do. Standing between the two Sound-nin and their target didn't seem like too hot of an idea, "What are you two thinking! These guys are too dangerous! Even Sakura...!" He was on his knees, on the ground, practically begging.

They could die here!

"It's troublesome," Shikamaru drawled, "But we have to do this. Since Ino revealed herself, we men can't just run away." See, he was pretending it was to just prove he was a 'real man'.

Ino snickered, "Sorry to get you two involved, but we're a three-man team. We do everything together."

Shikamaru smirked, "Oh well, whatever happens, happens."

"But I don't want to die yet!" Chouji whined, and promptly attempted to run away. Shikamaru just gripped the scarf tighter, "Let go! Let go!"

"Shut up! Stop moving!" the dark haired male growled.

"Heh," Zaku chuckled, wiping a splatter of blood from his face, "You can run if you want... Fatty."

Chouji froze, back stiffening and eyes narrowing, "What did that person just say? I couldn't hear him too well."

"Eh?" Zaku looked confused, but Ino and Shikamaru just looked stunned-- the Sound-nin had just made a terrible decision.

_Those words are taboo to Chouji,_ Shikamaru thought, rather shocked that someone would actually be stupid enough to say those words. Then again, their opponent wasn't from Konoha. They wouldn't have known... _if he says it again..._

"I said," and Zaku raised his voice, thinking that his insults would just break the kid down. How did someone so large get to be a ninja, anyway? "that you can go jack off in the woods if you want... you fat ass!"

The word seemed to echo on the wind for a moment, and Chouji still stood with his back to the Sound-nin.

"I'm not fat!" Chouji bellowed, whirling around to beset Zaku with his most vicious glare, "I'm big-boned!" and with an incoherent scream of fury, the ninja let his chakra free. The air swirled around him, flickering blue with his own energies, "Hurray for big-boned people!"

Sakura and Kin stopped their fight for long enough to stare incredulously at Chouji, "Wow..." the pink haired one muttered, "...that was unexpected."

"Okay!" Chouji turned to his teammates, psyched and ready for battle, "You two understand that this is a fight between Konoha and Sound, right!"

Good, Ino smirked to herself, he got pissed off.

"Geez," Shikamaru muttered, "this is going to be troublesome."

"That's our line," Zaku snorted. Damn it, we were told to kill Sasuke before the exam ended...

"Sakura!" Ino called across the field to the pink haired ninja. She was exhausted, barely able to stand, her battles with Zaku and Kin taking their toll. It would be for the best if she had some time to relax her muscles, and take care of those wounds, "Take care of Sasuke-kun and Naruto back here. You've done enough."

The two kunoichi stared at one another for a moment, before Sakura nodded, and did her best to run for her teammates. Kin growled, hurtling the kunai she'd been using to block Sakura's attacks at her. Sakura grunted as it slammed home in her shoulder, but didn't stop moving. She'd deal with it when she got to her companion's sides.

"The Ino team is going to go with everything they have!"

"Roger!"

"Formation!" Ino shouted, "Ino!"

"Shika!"

"Chou!"

"Go for it, Chouji!" Ino cheered as the large ninja settled himself into his starting stance.

"Okay! _Baika no Jutsu_!" and with a burst of Chakra, he was literally twice his own size-- and aside from his limbs and head, completely round, "And Konoha Style hand-to-hand combat..." he pulled his arms and head into his puffed up clothing, just like a turtle, his shout muffled from within, "Meat Tank!"

Up into the air went the large ball of Chouji, spinning rapidly around and around. Sakura briefly wondered if he was getting dizzy in their, but turned her attention back to her teammates.

Haku was sprawled across Ito, who was laid out on top of Naruto. The blonde ninja was face down in the dirt, out cold-- probably due to the roughness of the landing. Sakura had landed on Yaone, and the purple-eyed mist-nin was still out cold from being knocked around like that.

"What the hell is this?" Zaku had to wonder, staring at Chouji-ball as he rolled across the ground straight for him. Smirking, the Sound-nin chuckled, "It's just a fat ass rolling. _Air Cutter_!" Up came his hands, a blast of concussive force exploded from his palms, holding Chouji at bay.

Shikamaru and Ino watched in surprise, while Kin and Dosu just smirked. Something so simple as rolling across the ground wasn't going to take out Zaku, even after the beating he took from the pink haired ninja.

Said pink haired ninja had managed to drag Haku and Ito off of Naruto, and get the blond onto his back. Hopefully, he would wake up soon-- hopefully they all would.

"Why you...!" Zaku growled, quite surprised that Chouji had enough force behind his roll that the Air Cutter was only holding him in place, not knocking him back like intended. It was at this point Zaku got quite the shock, "It flew up!"

Indeed, Chouji-ball had 'jumped' soaring high into the air, and above the Air Cutter's current.

With his rotation, Zaku realized, the air pressure from the Air Cutter doesn't work very well. He was surprised how calm he was, considering that there was a very large ball of man falling straight at him. But even if I want to send supersonic waves into him, my arms would break touching that thing.

It was at this point that Dosu realized that Zaku had no intention of moving. With a burst of speed, the bandaged man took off running once again, this time barreling down on his teammate.

_I won't let you..._ Shikamaru glowered at the running Dosu, forming the seal of his family's personal jutsu. _Since you're the most troublesome one. _

"_Ninpou, Kage Mane no Jutsu!_" Shikamaru's shadow streaked outwards, covering the ground more rapidly that any one person could run.

"My body...!" Dosu choked on the realization that he was frozen in place.

Shikamaru smirked, "Heh."

The by play between Dosu and Shikamaru, however, was enough to shock Zaku into moving, and the Sound-nin leapt out of the way, just as Chouji hit the ground, burrowing a large hole right where he had stood.

Sakura coughed slightly as churned up dirt hit her in the face, but at that particular moment, she didn't much care. Dragging Sen over to the others was a lot harder than she had anticipated-- especially since her hands had gone through him a few times. She didn't know who or want he was, though she assumed that he was a projection of Ito's.

When she realized her hands were wrapped around a doll, somewhere in the middle of Sen's chest, she assumed she understood what had happened. Ito had been too injured to fight in his own body, so he had created a projection of himself over the doll, and used chakra to guide it.

She'd have to badger him into telling her how he'd done it.

"Dosu! What are you doing!" Kin squawked, gaping at her leader as he stood in various silly positions. It was only when she turned to the enemy, that she realized one of them was standing in the exact same position. Shikamaru laughed.

_This must be... the Shadow Bind Technique_, Dosu realized, shock running through his system. _A kid knew this...?_

"Ino, now it's up to you, woman," he sounded so annoyed right at that moment.

"Okay. Shikamaru, take care of my body," she was looking far to smug in Kin's opinion.

"Sure."

"What?" Kin gave the other female a confused stare, as Ino's hands folded into a seal.

"_Ninpou, Shintenshin no Jutsu!_" Kin felt her body freeze up on her, and Ino's fell to the side, Shikamaru catching her. Dosu, of course, mimicked Shikamaru's every move.

Zaku was still being hounded by Chouji-ball, the large leaf-nin having not stopped rolling, even after his explosive crash into the ground. The sound-nin was only barely dodging out of the way each time, "Dammit...!"

He needed help. With a growl, he turned in the direction of his teammate, "Kin!"

"What's wrong!"

"This is it," Kin's voice sounded so... strange. High pitched, cheerful... it wasn't the sadistic girl they knew. The kunai Kin held to her own throat almost shocked them as much as the odd voice, "If you move, this Kin girl is dead. If you don't want to retire here, leave your scroll and get out of here."

Zaku's eyes narrowed.

"Once you two back off far enough where we can't sense your Chakra, I'll let this girl go."

Dosu chuckled softly.

_Why are they laughing...?_ within Kin, Ino was confused. Did they not care for this girl who's body she'd stolen? "Chouji!"

"Okay!" Chouji agreed, still in his blown-up form, and coming straight at the other two Sound-nin.

"No!" Sakura shouted, crouched over Lee, she had been watching Ino's technique. She had never seen the technique in action-- Ino had still been trying to learn it when they had stopped being friends, "They're trying to--!"

Zaku aimed at Kin. The explosion of air pressure that lanced out from his palm was intercepted by Chouji, but Kin's body was still flung back, slamming into the tree. Ino cried out, and blood dribbled from her body's mouth. Not good...

"Ino!" Shikamaru half-gasped.

Chouji had fallen out of his larger form, dizzied and feeling sick. The kicked up dirt wafted around him as he staggered, "I'm dizzy..."

Ino-in-Kin was struggling to get up, the injury on Kin's body identical to that on her own, "What's wrong with them...? They hurt their own teammate."

"Heh," Zaku smirked, and Dosu explained, "You took us too lightly. Our purpose is not a dumb scroll of to get through this exam."

_I should have told them... mentioned it, or something,_ Sakura closed her eyes for a moment, before shaking her head and looking up. She'd known that this was about more than just a scroll. Orochimaru had pounded that into her skull the day before, when the tiniest scrap of his poison left her body burning, and her mind feverish.

"What?"

"It's Sasuke-kun," Dosu practically purred in amusement. Sakura glared at him. Inner Sakura stretched in the back of her mind, getting ready for round two. Dark purple chakra flickered around the symbol in the crook of her neck, but not enough to be seen.

Behind her, however, much more dark chakra was wafting off the holder of the rest of the Curse Seal.

"Oh...?" Dosu's eyes flickered to the ground as Shikamaru's shadow melted away from his feet.

_My technique... _

"I see that your Shadow Bind technique can only be used for five minutes at most."

"It's not Shadow Bind," Shikamaru's voice was dry, "It's Shadow Imitation."

"And that girl's technique... it seems that she is able to slip into another person's mind and take control of the body. Seeing that blond from her mouth, it looks like that if we kill Kin, that girl will die, too."

"You're going to kill a teammate?"

"If we have to," Zaku aimed at Ino-in-Kin again, "yes."

Shikamaru grit his teeth for a moment, then shrugged, standing tall, "This is over."

"Dammit," Chouji grumbled.

"Close. You almost had us," Zaku was smirking again. It was a rather infuriating facial expression of his.

"You let your guard down."

"How disgusting," the voice came from above, causing everyone to look up. High above... yet another pair of leaf-nin. To the Sound, this was becoming something of an annoying trend.

"A mere minor Sound ninja... acting like victors by beating those second-class ninja?"

"What!" Dosu and Zaku gaped at the impertinent white-eyed youth standing on the branch.

"They're from Lee-san's team..."

"Lee!" Tenten had finally noticed her downed teammate.

"It looks like he screwed up," Neji muttered to her.

"You guys just keep coming out like roaches," Dosu sneered.

"Maybe it's your repugnant smell? Everyone just has to see what died," Sakura twisted as best she could while keeping the Sound-nin in sight, to see Yaone helping Haku sit up. The purple-eyed ninja smiled half-heartedly at Sakura, "Sorry I couldn't help earlier. I woke up as blonde girl took Sound-girl. Not much chakra left in me. And Haku's barely able to move."

"That bobbed hair kid there is on our team..." Neji ignored Yaone's jab at Dosu, even if the bandaged man had turned to glare at her, "Looks like you went overboard with him!"

"_Byakugan_..." Yaone whispered, a shiver going down her spine. Looks like she was going to meet the others like her sooner than she had thought she would.

Everyone else in the clearing was holding their breath in fear. What would last year's number one rookie do?

_What is with his eyes?_ Dosu wondered, his own visible eye wide with fear. _It looks like he's able to see everything with it... _

"If you're going to continue to fight, we will fight with everything we have."

Tenten went for one of her kunai, only to notice her teammate jerking straight up, "What is it, Neji?"

_This Chakra..._ Neji pursed his lips.

"If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here."

Tipping his head, the Hyuuga smirked, "No, it seems that there's no need for me to do that."

"Hmmm?" Dosu narrowed his eyes. Was the kid backing down? How... pathetic. Of course, it was at that moment, a feeling of darkness washed over him. Eyes widening, he looked towards the unconscious forms piled at the base of the tree, bit and pieces of the broken branch scattered around them.

An ominous aura of deep purple chakra had flared up around Uchiha Sasuke. An aura familiar to both Zaku and Dosu. This... was not good.

Sakura didn't know if she should be gasping in pleasure or moaning in pain. The Seal on her neck itched like mad, the power surrounding Sasuke so much like what had powered herself and Inner Sakura when fighting Zaku.

'_Because I didn't have power... Everyone was killed!_'

"Sasuke...?" Sakura's eyes widened, glazing over. Gold light flickered across her vision, and she saw a shadow of a person. Was that... was that Sasuke? Who was he with? Who was the one speaking...?

'_No... you let them die. You just watched them die. If only I had power..._'

"Sasuke-kun, who is that? Sasuke-kun?"

Eyes swiveled back and forth between Sakura and Sasuke's unconscious body. Had the pink haired girl gone insane? Who was she talking to?

Dosu frowned, eying the girl. Was this why her Curse Seal had looked so strange? Was it shared between her and the boy? Why would Orochimaru do that?

'_If only you had power..._'

And the dark aura exploded into a ball of chakra, hiding the Uchiha from sight. Sakura cried out in pain, the chakra lancing through her body, seeking to either sever or strengthen the connection between herself and Sasuke.

"No, no, stop, please, it hurts!" she half wailed.

"Sakura!" Yaone wrapped her arms around the other girl, "Stay with us girl. Don't do a repeat of last night!"

The dark chakra exploded outwards, though within the vortex of energy, all that could be see of Sasuke was a shadow.

"That's... Sasuke-kun...?" Ino was terrified. Sakura had been scary, but Sasuke... he was beyond anything she'd ever felt before.

Across his left side, a burning light began to appear. It was a demonic image, something awe inspiring, and teeth chattering. He took a step forwards, eyes hidden by darkness sweeping across the field.

Naruto was down... he clenched a fist.

Sakura was injured... he grit his teeth.

"Sakura..." the dark chakra began to fade away, and Sasuke was visible. The Sharingan glared out of a face marked with the dark spots of the Curse Seal. Spots not unlike those she had worn herself, no more than ten minutes earlier, "Who did that to you...?"

There was a shadow to his voice. Something dark, something dangerous. Something Inner Sakura wanted to touch, so badly...

_The curse seal has covered his body..._ Dosu found his mind reeling.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura pushed herself out of Yaone's arms, hesitantly leaning forwards, "Your body..."

The Uchiha heir looked down at his hand, and the markings that decorated it, "Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel power surging inside me. I'm feeling good right now. He gave it to me."

_He...?_ Sakura's eyes widened. _Orochimaru did this,_ Inner Sakura purred,_ made us a matched pair. Soul mates... _

"I finally understand, now. I'm an avenger," Sasuke seemed off in his own little world, "I must obtain power no matter what, even if I must let the devil take hold of my body."

_I see... just as I thought,_ Dosu wasn't finding this change of plans very amusing,_ the bruises on their necks that the lightning bug was talking about was that cursed seal. Still, I can't believe he woke up. That either of them woke up._

"Sakura, say it!" Sasuke away from his downed teammate, "Who the hell hurt you!"

Zaku laughed, straightening up, "I did!" He was reconsidering having said that, when those icy red eyes landed on him.

"What?" Ino looked confused.

"Ino!" Shikamaru shouted, "You're going to get confused as the enemy like that! Return to your own body! Chouji, you come here, too. We're going to hide." Sasuke was starting to scare him. The power that surrounded him was just too much.

"Okay!"

"Cancel!" Kin's body hit the ground, and Ino groaned as she brought herself back to her own body. This was just not a good day.

"Okay, you're back."

"Shikamaru, what's going to happen now?"

"How should I know!" he snapped, annoyed. How troublesome!

The black marks on Sasuke's face began to glow again, skittering across his skin-- no longer just his left side, but his right as well. Things were starting to get out of hand.

"This is..." Dosu choked, "This is too much for us...! His Chakra is too huge!"

"Dosu!" Zaku was surprised that his leader could be so put off by a kid, "Don't be afraid of that half-dead guy!"

"No, stop, Zaku!" Dosu reached out a hand for his teammate, "Don't you understand!"

"I'll kill them all with this!" Zaku shouted, "I'll finish this in a flash!" The concussive force that ripped out of his hands was unlike anything the leaf-nin had seen before, "_Maximum Air Cutter!_"

The backwash of it tore at Dosu's clothing, at the hidden leaf-nin, and the leaf-nin in the tree. When it finally faded, Zaku was left gasping for breath, a trench a foot deep and two feet wide cut the ground in front of him.

"Heh," he smirked, "They blew up into pieces."

"Who did?" Zaku's eyes widened as Sasuke's voice came from behind him-- a split second before he went flying from a punch to the side of his head.

Yaone collapsed forwards, a bubble of protection shattering outwards from around the mist-nin, Sakura and Naruto having been saved by Sasuke. Her wand fell from nerveless fingers as she hit the ground. She'd had only the tiniest bit of mana left, and it had taken everything just to put of the small shielding spell.

"Zaku!" _He's fast... On top of that, he moved instantly while holding his teammates._ Both Sound-nin made choking noises as Sasuke turned to face them, hands flying as they formed a number of seals.

"_Katon, Housenka_!" the fireballs raced towards Zaku, who dropped into his normal fighting stance.

"Don't get cocky! I'll erase it!" Throwing his hands forwards, he blew concussive air outwards, the fire ripping away from them, revealing several spinning blades, "What? There are shuriken in the fire!"

"Zaku! Below you!" Dosu bellowed the warning only a moment too late, Sasuke's elbow hitting him hard in the stomach to pitch him forwards. A blink of the eye later, and Sasuke had one foot in Zaku's back, yanking Zaku's arms backwards.

His Chakra is totally different from before! Is this really Sasuke-kun? Ino was worried. This wasn't the Sasuke she'd gone to school with. He'd never smirk like that...

"You seem to be proud of your arms," Sasuke chuckled, pressing down with his foot.

"Stop it..." Zaku craned his head around to plead with the leaf-nin, only to find himself screaming as Sasuke pulled, and dislocated his shoulders.

Sakura gasped in shock, though Inner Sakura was cheering her beloved on. Everyone else in the clearing were gaping in open mouthed horror as Sasuke dropped the Sound-nin to the ground, unable to use his arms.

"That leaves just you," Sasuke smirked, looking over his shoulder at Dosu. The bandaged man gasped, and began to shiver. No, this couldn't be happening. No, please...

"You better entertain me better than him."

* * *

End Chapter 

**Yaone:**_ This is one of the kids Haku's so hyped up to protect? This little psycho? Can anyone calm him down, or will he come after us, when he's done with the bandaged monstrosity? We're not leaf-nin... but then, will he even recognize any of the leaf, outside of Naruto and Sakura? _

**Yaone:** _Sakura! Stop Sasuke! _

* * *

Alrightie, now that I've sufficently wasted three hours, I can go back to digging holes. I'll be happy when I'm done with the holes, and I can just start nailing things together. Stupid dirt. Stupid wood.

Reviewage Thanks go to the amazing grand total of five people who reviewed the last chapter. Wow. Amazing. I think that's the fewest number of reviews I've ever gotten for one chapter XD

**Maverick Hunter Phoenix** - Yes, I updated. 2am destruction of writer's block is frustrating. Especially when you just _know_ it's going to be gone when you wake up. Heh, hope this was fast enough for ya.

**Ran** - Yay for in character-ness! I try. I also have the episodes I'm rewriting running in the background when I write these. It helps

**tessa3** - :_comforts_: I know what it feels like to read something for a series you've only seen/read bits and pieces of, and need more information on. Oh the looks on peoples faces way back when, when I first got into Ranma Nibunnoichi I'm glad you like my story, even if you're confused by it.

**Tombadgerlock** - Apparently, I can't spell your name. Stupid hands... oh, don't expect Sakura to stay all calm and stuffies. Inner Sakura's still little miss psycho, and now she thinks she and Sasuke are soul mates because of the curse XD

**Strata** - :_blinks a few times then squeaks_: Digimon Christmas Album? Where, where? It's not a threat when I _like_ what you're threatening me with. Lee will learn, soon enough. I have plans for that boy. And you know me... my plans generally involve blood and gore and death, and a handful of psychos.

I'm mean, I don't even answer your question in this chapter. Mwaha.

Obviously, Shikamaru fought. And shut up about delays. You've been living with delays from me for years.

((_:grumbles: _I had to wait _nine hours _before I could update FYD. Stupid overloaded Servers...))


	22. chapter 22

I've got this nasty blister on the inside of my palm... well, technically, it on the inside of the kncukle, and it hurts like a bitch if I stretch it out. That comes from the hammer. I put up a grand total of six boards on my garden shelter thingie, and got a blister. That's... 36 nails I had to hammer in. I feel so pathetic... 

Oh well, despite typing making it worse, here's another chapter for all your people out there! Yay!

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-Two  
The Itch

* * *

He barely kept back the grunt of pain as he tried to force himself into a seated position, as he tried to see what was going on around him. His body felt numb, and crashing back into the ground when Yaone had collapsed had not been very helpful in that respect. He felt as though something was missing. Something important, something he depended on... whatever it was, now was not the time to be worried about that sort of thing.

With a grunt, Haku managed to get himself up enough that he could see what was going on around him. One of his contacts had come out, and his vision was blurry in one eye. He almost thought that was the reason he was seeing what he was. But no, that really was Sasuke, skin bearing the mark of the Curse Seal of Orochimaru.

_Dammit..._ he cursed to himself; he had been hoping to be able to change that. Alter it somehow. But... no luck. It looked as though Uchiha was to remain a servant of Orochimaru.

Uchiha was striding confidently towards the remaining Sound-nin, smirking viciously. Dosu backed up several steps, afraid for this life-- this was not a situation he wanted to be in. Those lost to the grip of Orochimaru's seal were frighteningly powerful-- even the Sakura girl, who only bore a small portion of the seal, had been outrageously strong. Vengeful and vicious, furious at the mere thought of Sasuke coming to harm.

Zaku had fought well against her. He had been stupid to assume that Uchiha and she were on the same level, however, which was why he was laid out unconscious on the ground. To be honest, Dosu wasn't sure that if his entire team _had_ been conscious, if they would have been able to take this monster out. He'd seen what the curse seal could do, after all...

The Sound's eyes flickered from the demonic red of the Sharingan to look into the softer green of his teammate. He had hoped, some small part of him, that this girl would be his salvation. That she would stop Uchiha... but there was a darkness in her eyes. The madness of the girl who had taken on Zaku without batting an eyelash. There were black marks on her neck and one shoulder, but no further. She wasn't totally out of it, yet.

He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to calm his nerves, before shouting, "Girl!"

She stared at him, cool and hard for a long moment-- and then she smirked. It was the only warning he had, as Uchiha had abruptly moved, his sedate pace vanishing in an instant. His fist crashed into Dosu's face, and his knee into his gut. The bandaged man lurched with the movement, stumbling backwards-- but Uchiha was there, too.

The Sharingan Heir's foot caught the stumbling Dosu in the side of the head, sending him careening into a tree with a sickening crack. Sasuke smirked, and Sakura gave a little cheer of encouragement. Uchiha was moving again, flying across the clearing, to slam his foot into the tree trunk-- Dosu had rolled out of the way, sending another pleading look at the leaf-nin.

In the brushes, Ino was trembling. This... this wasn't the Sasuke she remembered from the academy. This wasn't the quiet boy with the carefully concealed chakra. This wasn't the youth she loved.

"Sasuke, stop!" she didn't really know what she was doing, throwing herself out of the brushes, and away from her teammates.

"Ino!" Chouji shouted, "What are you doing!"

"Sasuke, please!" She stood between him and Dosu, arms flung wide, "Stop, Sasuke! This isn't you!"

"Ino, get out of there!" Shikamaru shouted, "You're just--"

His sentence was cut off by the Uchiha. Annoyed, the leaf-nin had knocked Ino out of the way, and none to pleasantly. The blonde girl went flying, and Sasuke dropped his leg. Glaring, the raven haired ninja looked away from the girl as she bounced across the ground.

"Ino!" Shikamaru and Chouji jumped from the bushes to go to their comrade, crouching over her. This... was not good. Sasuke had attacked one of his own countrymen-- what was it that caused this? Was it that dark chakra that permeated him?

Sakura's gaze was on the girl sprawled out across the ground, confused. What had just happened? Ino had tried to stop Sasuke's rightful vengeance against the Sound-nin... and Sasuke had taken her out with one hit. It was a glancing blow... but with the force that Ino had been thrown, it didn't look like Sasuke had pulled any of his power. You didn't attack your own country!

To do so could get you labeled as a traitor-- and traitors were not lightly dealt with.

Dosu's body skidded past her, the Sound-nin groaning in pain, but still struggling back to his feet. Sakura turned her eyes from her friend to her enemy. A rage burned in her heart, but this wasn't the place for it. Too many of them were down and injured-- to injure their own would only escalate things to a point that she did not wish to be a part of.

The unconscious Lee was only a few feet past Dosu, and his glazed over eyes staring in her direction, almost accusingly. No matter how much Inner screamed at her that this was the right thing to do, that letting Sasuke kill the Sound-nin was the only solution, she just couldn't let it continue like this! Tears rolled down her cheeks; she could have stopped this sooner. Ino wouldn't have been injured if she had...!

Sasuke was walking again, confident that he would win. Sakura knew that he could, if she let him, eliminate Dosu. But would he turn on them? Would he destroy the other Leaf-nin? Did he recognize anyone but her? She was the only one he had spoken to, outside of Dosu and Zaku. It wasn't a chance she could take.

"Stop!" it was in eerie echo of Ino, only a minute earlier. Sakura leapt to her feet as Uchiha passed her, and without think, wrapped her arms around him from behind. The Uchiha froze at the contact, his entire body locking up for a brief moment.

"Stop," she whispered, clinging to him, the tears still rolling down her face. Oh, why hadn't she done this earlier? Why hadn't she saved Ino from being attacked by him?

Uchiha's glaring Sharingan eye peered at her from over his shoulder-- and something in her face tickled something inside him. Her eyes were wide, shining with guilt and horror, tears rolling down muddy cheeks. What was she doing...? What was _he_ doing?

"Please... stop."

That part of him that her emotions tickled seemed to just break. Horror washed over him. Guilt drowned him. There was too much for it to be his alone-- and somehow, he knew that part of what he was feeling was Sakura's. He didn't know how, and he didn't particularly care about the 'why' as they sunk to the ground, Sakura still holding tightly to him.

His face burned, the dark marks that had covered it leeching away, drawing back into the seal on his neck. The feeling was echoed across his chest and leg, though muted as compared to the sensation crawling across his face and neck. It was disturbing, it was frightening... it somehow made the memories of the past minutes fade, though they still hung in his mind.

He knew on thing, though. This was not over. It was only... delayed.

_The cursed seals are disappearing..._ Dosu thought, blocking his pain from his mind as he carefully pulled himself to his feet. His jaw had been broken on impact with that tree, but that was not a serious injury for a ninja. All that the mouth was used for was calling out technique names while in a person-to-person battle. A ninja had to know how to attack silently, to say the name of the technique in their head, not out loud. _Looks like I'm okay for now._

"Sasuke-kun..."

Dosu's entire body shook with the fear of the vicious youth. Was this what Orochimaru had wanted? The violent psychopath that the boy had become while under the seal's power?

He was panting now, seemingly drained of his energy. Dosu closed his eyes, concentrating on forcing the slurred words through his jaw without moving it, "You... are... strong."

The cursed pair glared up at him, their rage at him obvious in their eyes, and he was glad that they had stopped their fight. He held out his scroll, "Sasuke-kun... we cannot... defeat... you." It was hard to ignore the pain that rolled through his face, when he spoke. It was harder than he thought it would be to speak without moving his jaw, "Let's make... a deal... Please... let us leave... for now."

Sasuke and Sakura both looked a little surprised, but at that moment, he didn't care. He placed the scroll on the ground, then stood, padding slowly towards his unconscious teammates. They needed to get out of here before Uchiha or Sakura let the Curse Seal in control again.

"We might be... asking for... too much... but we have... something... to confirm," Dosu hefted Zaku over his shoulder with a grunt. There were bruises on his back that would take a while to heal. He bent again to pick up Kin, "In exchange... I will promise... this... If we are to fight... each other in this... exam for the... second time... We will not run or hide." _We will not have been up all night. We will not have been tired from fighting so many of you. It will be one on one. _With those thoughts, Dosu turned and walked towards the trees. It was time to regroup, time to figure out a few things.

Time for Sasuke and Sakura to come to terms with the damage that they had done. Haruno could still taste Zaku's blood on her lips... "Wait!"

Dosu paused, but did not turn back to the girl, "Who is Orochimaru? What has he done to us? Why Sasuke-kun?" She knew better than to ask why her. She knew why-- it had been an accident, as she had attempted to save Sasuke. But that didn't explain why Orochimaru had done that to her beloved.

"I... do not know," Dosu could admit that freely, "We were... just ordered to... kill Sasuke-kun." _You ordered us to assassinate Sasuke-kun, yet you went ahead and did something... and instead of killing him, you left that cursed seal. What are you thinking...?_

The sealed pair watched him go, with no answers to Sakura's questions. It was frustrating, being left out of the loop; and this was a loop far greater than others. What was going on? Why had they been chosen, out of all the others? Was it because they were part of the Rookie Nine? Did that make them easy targets?

Ino rubbed her forehead, her entire body ached. Being slapped around by Sasuke was... not something she enjoyed. She hoped that she would never be on the receiving end of that, ever again.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chouji was crouched over her, and she nodded a bit stiffly, "Just sore. Sasuke-kun didn't hurt me, he just threw me."

"Are you sure?" the large ninja peered worriedly at her, and she hit him in the head.

"Would I tell you I'm fine if I wasn't?"

"Ow..."

Shikamaru shook his head with a sigh, "It's troublesome, Ino, but you take care of that Lee guy." It would probably be best to keep her away from Uchiha for a little while. Who knew if he was still 'out of it'.

Above, Neji watched with a careful eye. _That chakra was abnormal. The Uchiha clan's power is beyond my knowledge._ What had transpired was certainly... interesting. He would have to keep an eye out for Uchiha to see what other tricks were up his sleeve. And Haruno's words were... intriguing. The name Orochimaru seemed... familiar for some reason. He'd try to remember, but it wasn't all that important right then.

Through it all, Haku had been trying to get back upright, though he had been distracted by watching Sasuke pummel Dosu. Had the Uchiha been that strong when they had fought those months before, their battle would have been far less one sided. It may have even come to a conclusion before Naruto had to get involved.

_Naruto..._ Haku twisted around, and barely kept himself from falling over. What was wrong with his body, dammit? His movements were slow and trembling, all his reaction times off. Whatever Orochimaru had attempted to do to Naruto had left him debilitated. It was unlikely that the Mist-nin team would be able to continue onwards. It was sad, but true.

Then again, he had never expected them to actually pass this exam. That hadn't been the point of getting into the Forest. The point had been to protect Team Seven from Orochimaru. That didn't seem to have worked to well.

Shaking off his thoughts, the hunter-nin managed to drag himself over to where Sasuke had dropped Naruto, the blonde once again face down on the ground. He was, in fact, mumbling something into said ground. The kid was apparently coming out of the unconsciousness brought on by having two full grown 'men' land on him. Rolling the unconscious ninja over took a bit more effort than he would have liked, but he still managed it in time to hear the idiot mumble, "I will protect you..."

A pair of shadows fell across them, and Haku looked up as Shikamaru spoke, "What should we do with him? ...Let's kick him awake," he was speaking to his teammate, but Haku decided to respond anyway.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of water."

"Nah, I like the kicking idea," Chouji grinned, "Can I do it?"

"What was I...?" Sasuke stared down at his shaking hand, eyes wide with horror at what he'd done bare minutes earlier. Sakura had released him, instead sitting back on her haunches, her knees in contact with his thigh.

Sakura bit her lip, only to let it go a second later. Again, the taste of Zaku's blood was in her mouth, and she raised a hand to swipe at her chin. Her fingers came away slick with the blood of her opponent, and she shuddered. Hesitantly, she laid her bloody hand over Sasuke's shaking one. He started almost violently, turning to look at her with some fear-- fear that it was her blood.

"I..." she swallowed, dropping her voice so that only the two of them could hear it, "...I did the same thing, Sasuke-kun." Closing her eyes, she leaned forwards, tears dripping down her cheeks, "When... when Haku's teammate told me that... that they were trying to kill you, I..." she shuddered at the memory. That was completely unlike her. Even Inner was never normally that savage.

It had to be Orochimaru's seal. Whatever he had done to them had powered them up, yes... but it also seemed to destroy something inside them. Mercy, caring... whatever it was, the lack of it during their battle against the Sound had been marked. Sasuke had attacked Ino. She had torn a chunk out of Zaku with her teeth. Her _teeth_! That was animalistic behavior, not ninja behavior.

She had been able to calm down from that fiercesome high-- most likely because she only had one third of the curse seal. If that; she had a single mark, while Sasuke had two, but that didn't mean that she actually had a third of the seal. It just meant that the physical representation on the body was 'one third'. That high of rage and fury, caused by the seal, had been too much for Sasuke to overcome alone. She'd had to force him down.

That... did not bode well for his future, or for hers. They didn't even know what the seal was for-- turning them into berserkers couldn't be the only part of it.

"AHHHH!"

The scream brought Sakura's attention to her teammate, who was sitting up, and clutching his head. Chouji crouched on one side of him holding a stick, while Shikamaru and Haku sat on his other. The mist-nin was unsuccessfully trying to cover a smile.

The blonde blinked a few times, looking around in confusion. What were Chouji and Shikamaru doing here? Why was Ino hauling Rock Lee across the clearing for... and how'd they get into a clearing anyway? Last he remembered, they'd been up in a tree, sleeping under Yaone's odd genjutsu.

Sakura offered him a rather flat smile, before turning her attention back to Sasuke. This caused her recently shorn locks to come to Naruto's attention, "Wha...!"

"Be calm, Naruto-kun," Haku's voice came from behind the blonde carrier of Kyuubi, and he started, turning to look towards his almost-sorta-maybe friend.

"Haku...?" He didn't look all that good. In fact, he looked downright sickly. It made Naruto wish for the hunter-nin's mask, so that he didn't have to look into those sunken eyes. Haku blinked.

"Is something wrong?"

"What... what happened here?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Shikamaru drawled, "What does it look like?"

"It looks like there was a fight," Naruto glowered at the other genin, "But against who? And why didn't you wake me up!"

"Not enough time, I suppose," Haku shrugged, and Naruto was put off a bit. From what he knew, Haku was supposed to move with elegance and grace. That shrug looked awkward and forced. Haku's wince didn't help matters much, "I didn't get into the fight, either. Only watched the end of it."

"But what happened to Sakura-chan's hair!"

"An image change," Naruto was once again startled, as Sakura's voice came from behind him. Tipping backwards, he looked up at the pink haired genin, only now realized that she was battered and bruised. Blood dribbled down her chin, but it didn't look like it was hers.

Sasuke was a step behind her, looking a little perturbed. Sakura ran her fingers through her hair, "I like long hair... but you know, it gets in the way when I move around in a forest like this."

Naruto nodded his understanding, before looking at the two leaf-nin that flanked him, "By the way, why are you guys here?"

The pair glanced at each other and sighed. Shikamaru didn't even bother opening his eyes, "Explaining it to you is too troublesome for me."

"Everyone helped us," Sakura smiled tiredly.

"What?" His head was just bobbing from group of people to group of people. This was rather confusing. _Man, I should have been awake for the battle. It would have made things way easier on my neck..._

Ino smiled tightly as she and her burden arrived at the small gathering. _That Sakura... she's trying to act tough. Eh?_ she blinked as the older girl in pink dropped down the ground in front of her.

"I'll take him, now," Tenten looked up at the blonde.

"Uh... okay..." Lee was slid off her shoulder, and into Tenten's waiting hands-- only to be shaken like a rag doll.

"Wake up, Lee!"

Ino tried not to laugh-- it was like looking at her and Shikamaru. Except she was prettier. And just like Shikamaru, when Tenten dropped Lee, the genin in green blinked blurrily up at her, "Tenten...? Why are you here?"

"We came to help you," she knelt in front of him.

"Huh? Where did the Sound ninja go?"

"That Sasuke boy drove them away," she explained, and he looked over to where five of the Rookie Nine were seated.

"I see..."

Tenten was frowning at him, he could see it out of the corner of his eye, "Why did you take action on your own? On top of that, you're hurt badly!"

"Sakura-san was in danger, so as a man, I had to..." he was looking at the ground. Tenten wasn't very fond of that excuse, no matter how many times he used it.

_Geez,_ Tenten scowled, _if Lee was alone, he wouldn't have lost to them..._ "You really are an idiot!"

"I can't argue with that..." Lee gave her a little half smile.

Ino shook her head as she turned back towards her team. Yes, just like her and Shikamaru... wait. She blinked in surprise. The female mist-nin was trying to drag one of the redheads towards them. Not only that, but the very feminine mist-nin was awake and apparently talking to the group. Weren't they supposed to be enemies?

Well... as they apparently weren't, the blonde headed for the female mist-nin to help her out a little. She didn't look to be in too good of shape, and her teammate was quite a bit larger than her, "Need some help?"

Yaone looked up and blinked a few times. Ino nearly tripped over her feet, looking into empty purple eyes. That was... disturbing. She knew her own eyes crept people out some times-- the lack of a pupil tended to do that, but long ago, the Yamanaka clan had once been a part of the Hyuuga Clan, which at least explained her eyes. This unknown mist-girl had eyes that were creepily similar, "That would be appreciated."

"So why's fuzzy eyebrows here?" Naruto wondered-- and he probably should have kept his mouth shut.

"Naruto! Don't talk to Lee-san like that!" Sakura was practically bellowing, and despite her injuries, and fatigue, she still had enough strength to lay the blonde out with one punch.

_What happened while I was sleeping...?_ Naruto really wanted to know. All of a sudden things had changed, and he was deeply confused. The soft laugh of his mist-nin friend caused him to scowl, but Haku's stumbling gait as he came to sit beside the blonde made him cast a worried glance at the older boy. Something serious had gone down, here.

Sakura sighed, dropping her fist, and walked slowly over to the older genin, "Lee-san... thank you. If not for you... I think the Sound-nin would have taken me down a lot sooner. Thank you for fighting them for me. I think that... inside, I'm a little bit stronger, because of you." The Curse Seal may have made her physically stronger... but it had been Lee's unconscious glazed gaze that had caused her to fight off whatever madness the seal brought. It was him that let her leap up and stop Sasuke.

The least she could do was thank the thirteen year old.

"Sakura-san..." tears came to his eyes, though he wiped them away quickly, "I... it looks like I need more training," he turned his attention to the dark haired boy beside her. He wasn't sure what, exactly, he'd done, but Uchiha had protected Sakura, and to Lee, that was all that mattered, "You live up to the reputation of the Uchiha Clan. You drove the Sound ninja away. You truly possess great potential and power... while I lost horribly."

_He... lost?_ Shock ran through Sasuke's system. _What's going on? Were they that strong?_

"Sakura-san," he looked back at her, "The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice."

"What?"

"The next time we meet, I promise that I will be a stronger man."

She smiled, "Alright."

Naruto scowled, "No fair..."

Haku patted the blonde on the head, "Oh, don't worry about it too much, Naruto-kun. She's just being gracious."

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino called to her ex-best friend, as she and Yaone set Ito down beside Haku and Naruto, "Over here! I'll fix up your hair."

"Thanks," Sakura smiled.

* * *

End Chapter 

**Yaone:** _Now what do we do? Ito and Sen are still out cold, Haku can barely move, let alone fight-- how the hell are we supposed to pass the Exam?_

**Haku:** _We're here on a mission, not here to compete, Hermione. _

**Yaone:** _Easy for you to say, you've already passed this exam! What was it that Orochimaru did to you, anyway? What about Sakura and Sasuke? Will they tell Naruto what happened?_

**Haku: **_It's doubtful._

**Yaone:**_ You're not helping very much with this preview, Haku._

**Haku: **_Ah well... next time, the Itch stops using the script from the show! How's that?_

**Yaone: ...**

* * *

Chapter feels a bit flat, but it happens.

Review time! I'd like to extend my thanks to _**ReginaLucifer** ((I'm glad it's back, too. Inner can be such a psycho XD)) **Black** ((Haku and a guy... hmm... I hadn't thought about doing that... heh, no, I'm joking. Haku's safe in that capacity.)), **Akua** ((that sucks... oh well, you're forgiven! Zabuza's still in the present. They've got a month or two before they meet up with him again)), Yami no Kaze, **Chibi-Naru** ((I saw it, have no worries)), **tessa3** ((woo! yay for you!)),_ and _Tombdagerlock_

**Strata** - I swear, you're like the only person who consistantly gets a proper response from me. This I blame on knowing you for too long, and feeling free to babble at you. Ah yes... AIM... I so rarely use that... I rarely use any messanger programs, actually. How delightful. No Neji fighting in this chapter, either. Yes, he'll be kicking Hinata's ass soon, now that I've _finally_ gotten past the stupid Sound-nin. Gaara's brother is Kankuro, by the way. What, you don't want to see the amusement of a puppet versus a person in a puppet? For shame. And no matter what you say to me, I shall always delay! That is the Li Xiang way, and just because I'm under a different username means NOTHING.

**Ran** - You'll just have to wait and see, because I'm evil like that. EVIL, I say. 'T13' is my answer to all those questions, by the way. Not that that really tells you anything, except that they have to fill outa lot of paper work... or is that a T3? Oh well... And it's not like Yaone knows the difference. I don't think they teach psychology in the wizarding world, so she'd use movie terms. Hehe "He-who's-name-must-be-hyphenated". You and your threats... well, here's another chapter for ya.


	23. chapter 23

_"He's strong... Zangetsu-san... Train him well... because one day, that power will become mine."_

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-Three  
The Itch

* * *

Once everyone was up and moving, the four teams had gone their separate ways-- starting with Team Gai skulking into the shadows. Alright, so only Neji skulked. Lee had shouted a cheerful goodbye, waving madly, while Tenten huffed in exasperation for her teammate's oddities.

Team Ten had followed suit a little while later, dragged off by Shikamaru, who just wanted everything over and done with so he could get back to his clouds.

Sakura had expressed her worry for Haku when he had to be half-carried in order to go anywhere, but the missing-nin had merely brushed it off as a side effect of his rough awakening. She hadn't been fully convinced, though Yaone had given her a look that only another female would have understood. Haruno had relented, and allowed the Mist-nin and his companions to go.

Once they had gotten far enough away that there was no worry than any in Team Seven could still possibly be listening or watching them through any jutsu, Haku gave up all pretenses. His feet slipped out from under him, and he sagged in Ito and Yaone's loose grip, knees hitting the ground with a small 'wuff' of pain. Ito just as quickly swung the fifteen year old onto his back, "What was _that_ about, Haku?"

"Not to sure," Haku grunted, tightening his grip on the seventeen year old's shoulders. Yaone padded along behind them, eyes scanning their path for traps, "Ever since I woke up, I have found myself out of sorts."

"Chakra depletion?" the _byakugan_ user wondered. Haku shook his head in the negative.

"No, this doesn't feel like chakra depletion. I feel as though I have not used my chakra in ages... and yet something is missing. It's throwing all my reactions and abilities off," the mist-nin frowned.

"We'll have a mednin take a look at you, then," Yaone decided with a firm nod.

"What about the Exam?" Sen squeaked, moving from Ito's head to Haku's, "We can't drop out now!"

"The only reason we entered was to try and prevent the inevitable. It is obvious that we have failed," Haku's voice was flat, "We have a mission to complete for Godaime-sama."

The two humans nodded, and the puppet sulked. They picked up the pace, no longer restricted to Haku's hobbling-- for a ninja, at least-- pace. Jumping through the trees, they bypassed several battles and corpses, never stopping.

They didn't even drop to the ground to go through the gates. Instead, they leapt over the fence, and continued on their way towards Konoha's medical facilities. Yaone dropped their scroll to the ground in front of one of the chuunin standing guard. They wouldn't need it.

* * *

Hakuhyou did not like hospitals.

There were a variety of reasons; ranging from color, to smell-- too sterile-- to the bedside manor of previous nurses. In the end, he just hated being anywhere near one, despite knowing that sometimes it was necessary.

Like today, for example.

As the mednins fussed over him, Haku clenched Sen tighter in his fist-- Yaone and Ito had been denied entry into the ward when the healers had found the seal on the Boy-Who-Lived. Apparently, it was supposed to be used as a modification of a seal that was present already on the body. On any other person it should not have done anything.

The problem was that Hakuhyou was already under a seal-- a magical one, granted, but a seal nonetheless. The scar that decorated his forehead had simply been considered a reminder of a horrible incident from his childhood for over a decade, however the truth was much more insidious than that. As it turned out, that particular scar wasn't a "curse scar" as so many had called it, but a visible representation of a magical seal.

Of course, the medical ninja hadn't quite put it that way, having not really understood how the seal had been made. All she'd been able to tell was that a seal of some strange energy had bound up someone else's chakra; set up as some sort of fail-safe mechanism.

When Orochimaru had prepared the seal for Naruto, it was obvious he wanted to alter a seal to block something. Neither Haku nor the nurse were quite sure what, exactly, he had intended to do, though the nurse had some suspicions that she wasn't sharing with Haku.

No, the problem was that as far as the nurse could tell, his Bloodline Limit had been sealed away, completely inaccessible. This, of course, had resulted in the frantic rush of medical ninja, and Yaone and Ito's exile from the room. Ito had left his brother behind in order for Haku to have someone there 'on his side', without having to worry about the Leaf-nin attempting to learn something about the Mist that Haku could not reveal.

Even missing-nin preferred to refrain from allowing the techniques of their village-of-origin to be stolen. _Taught_ to someone on purpose was entirely different.

As he was asked roll over so they could inspect the bruises on his shoulder for the ten thousandth time, Haku grit his teeth. He really hated hospitals; especially when he spent six hours in one doing absolutely nothing be getting examined.

Finally, after nearly another hour, the nurses left him be, muttering amongst each other, and casting worried glances back at him before stepping out the door. Haku grumbled something acidic, and Sen wriggled out of his grasp.

"Bloody hell!" he spat in English, "if I still had innards, you would have squished them!"

"As it is," Ito's voice came from the window, and the two ninja in the room turned to blink at the older redhead, "You look kind of flat."

Yaone, perched beside him on the windowsill nodded, and held out a bag of take out, "Ramen, curtsey of Uzumaki's instructor."

Ito pushed himself off the windowsill and inspected the room with an air of surprise, "Is this what all muggle hospitals are like?"

"This is what ninja hospitals are like," Haku accepted the bag gratefully, "I don't know much about muggle hospitals."

"This is pretty much it," Yaone sat cross-legged on Haku's bed, "My parents are dentists, and their office looks much like this."

"Den...tists?" Sen tried the word out, somewhat confused, "What is that?"

Yaone sighed, rubbing her forehead, "They're a type of doctor that looks after your teeth."

"Really?" Ito blinked somewhat owlishly at her, "I thought muggles just replaced bad teeth."

"Depends on the damage, though it's cheaper just to take care of them," Yaone frowned, "Why are we talking about this?"

"I wouldn't really know," Haku's smile was strained, "I've been stuck in this building for nearly seven hours, and we still know very little."

"Well, what do you know?" Yaone was worried for her teammate. The past couple days had been a roller coaster unlike anything she'd ever been a part of before and it was kind of frightening. Thinking of it as something she could quantify, something she could think through logically, let her rest easier.

"_Hebi-teme_," Haku ignored the looks of surprise as he swore, "was intending to place a second seal."

"Second seal?"

The dark haired boy leaned forwards, folding his hands beneath his chin, "A seal designed to work with one that's already present, or to alter it to the wishes of the secondary sealer, depending on the secondary's personal chakra reserves."

"Why would he try a seal like that on you?" Ito frowned in confusion. Haku didn't have any seals, did he? And how would Orochimaru have even known about them?

"He didn't," Haku peered up at him with mismatched eyes, and Ito started as he realized that Haku still hadn't replaced his contact, "the seal was meant for Naruto-kun. I'm not sure what he had intended to seal on him, but I do know what he sealed on me."

The witch and the wizard shared a look and leaned forwards, "What? What did he seal?"

"My Bloodline Limit," Haku turned his attention to the window, to look out at the darkening sky, "I have no accessible mana."

Ito paled, "You... you have no _magic_!" it was hard to even consider. This adventure was an experiment to him; he'd never lived without magic before, and this whole ninja "thing" was teaching him that he didn't need to rely on it. However, for the seventeen years of his life, he'd been inundated with magic. Not having it was a horrific thought.

Yaone frowned, "Blondie doesn't have a Bloodline Limit, does he?"

"Not that I am aware of," Haku's gaze was distant, "which is what I can not understand. What kind of seal would have been placed on Naruto-kun that would allow for a such a secondary seal to work at all?"

"Secondary... but Haku, how do you know it's a Secondary Seal?" Ito wondered, "I mean, you don't have any seals--"

"He does," Sen decided to speak up, the tiny flattened doll having shuffled himself around so that he sat in the middle of the three humans.

"What!" the two squawked, turning wide eyes on Haku, "What kind of seal? Where? When? How?" the questions came rapidly, and Haku could barely understand them. Finally, he raised his hand to ask for silence. The pair trailed off, and Haku folded his hands again.

"First and foremost, Zabuza-san is not to learn of this."

That brought a round of stares and silence. Haku was intending to keep something from his mentor and guardian-- something that none of them had thought possible. Sen, though he already knew what the nurses knew of the seal, figured that there had to be something even more, for him to ask this of them.

"Why?" the doll wanted to know.

"As much as it may surprise you, I do not tell him everything," the hunter-nin laughed softly, "This is not something that is necessary for him to know. Should the seal still remain by the time we realign with our proper time, then he will learn of a modified history. He _will not_ learn of what I am about to tell you."

"That still doesn't explain why," the older Weasley pointed out with an annoyed glower.

Haku nodded, "I know. You all know Zabuza-san's opinion of magic, and this is heavily steeped in magic. He would not allow you to return to Hogwarts at any point if he knew about the... particulars of the first seal."

"It's magical in nature..." Yaone's mind went into overdrive, going over every spell she knew, but for the most part she couldn't think of any seals. It wasn't a major part of wizarding life anymore-- a few hundred years back, yes, but currently? No there wasn't much of a need for sealing magicks.

"Yes," Haku nodded, "And I have only come in contact with two men with the amount of power needed to place a seal on me-- and Albus Dumbledore did not performed any magic on me in the time that I was within the walls of Hogwarts."

"You-Know-Who..." Sen's voice was soft, Ito had gone pale, and Yaone's eyes had darkened with fury. Haku blinked in confusion.

"I'm... not to sure who you are speaking of, but I was referring to Voldemort."

Ito nodded, jaw tensing for a moment before he spoke, "You-Know-Who is the way that the majority of wizards refer to him. As a bad memory that we do not which to have."

"A bad memory who's active," Yaone spat, "son-of-a-bitch is a better name for him."

"He's active?" Haku had gone pale, "Oh... that's... not good."

"No kidding," Yaone's voice was flat.

"No, you don't understand, Hermione," the use of her true name brought her up short. Though it had only been three days, it seemed a little strange to hear it, "The seal that was originally placed on me bound up a portion of Voldemort's soul within _me_. It kept him alive as a spirit without a body, but it also kept him from achieving his full power."

Understanding dawned in all three of his companions, and they went pale.

Haku collapsed back into his bed, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead, "I had thought that he was still little more than a spirit. If that had been the case, then the secondary seal would have essentially killed him. By binding up my Bloodline Limit-- my mana-- it made me rely solely on my chakra, just the same as any standard ninja. And it was my mana that was holding the fragment of Voldemort's soul. Without it..."

"Without it, the SOB is able to achieve the full power he had before his first defeat," Yaone concluded.

"This must be why he hasn't been as active over the last few years, as he was in the seventies," Ito murmured, "If his soul was split, then he wouldn't have had the power he was used to, and would have been limited in what he could do."

"Which means that he might start an offensive campaign again, now that he's whole," Haku sighed, "We need to train."

Yaone frowned, "What about Godaime's mission?"

"When the Preliminaries end, there will be a month between them and the Third Exam to allow for the participants to recover," Potter said, "In that time, we too will train. We will complete the mission for Godaime-sama. We will remain in the area, training, until we realign with our time. After that, we shall prepare an assault on Voldemort and his forces."

"Four ninja against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Sen raised an eyebrow, "We'll be slaughtered. Especially with your Bloodline Limit sealed."

"Hence why we will train," Haku smiled at his friends, though he still hadn't opened his eyes, "I need to be able to fight without relying on my mana to reinforce my chakra."

"What you need is sleep," a new voice interjected, and the team jerked upright. Standing in the doorway was a small leaf-nin, dressed as a mednin. Her eyes were the familiar pupil-less stare of the Byakugan-- and they were suddenly trained on Yaone.

Granger's own eyes widened in realization and she spun around, trying to keep her face out of sight. She hadn't bothered changing her eyes back to their normal standard simply because it was frustratingly hard to force them back. Now she regretted it, as another Byakugan user had noticed.

"How..." the nurse licked her lips, stepping forwards, "...who are you?"

"None of your concern," Ito snapped, eyes narrowing sharply as he moved between the nurse and Yaone.

"She carries the Byakugan," the nurse stood to her full height, which was hardly anything in comparison to the Weasley boy, "That is a Hyuuga trait-- and she is not of the Hyuuga."

"And how do you know that she's not?" Haku wondered idly, "A descendant of a Hyuuga turned Missing-nin? The result of a liaison while on mission in another country? Perhaps a child left to be found by strangers as a baby? You can never know who will show up with your own bloodline limit."

The Hyuuga glared at him, "I find that highly improbable. To be trained in the Byakugan you need--"

Yaone cut her off with a growl, "Hell if I knew what it was, or why I had it. I just did, and dammit if I wasn't going to use it to protect myself." Ito shot her a warning look, but the young witch was frustrated. The way the Hyuuga was talking, it was like it was impossible that someone outside of her family line could have that power.

Hadn't Haku and Zabuza told her that the only 'limit' to a Bloodline Limit was that they had to have a similar mana-to-chakra relationship?

"This is a matter that should not be dealt with in the confines of a hospital," Haku soothed, "Especially not around a sick and tired patient."

The Hyuuga stared at Yaone for a moment longer, the girl getting off the bed, but keeping her back to the nurse. She pulled up Haku's sheets, looking down only to tuck them in, "You will come with me to the Hyuuga compound."

No answer. The nurse looked up, and both teenagers had vanished like the ninja they were. With a growl, she activated her Byakugan... and couldn't find them. With a curse, she turned and stormed out of the room, oblivious to the damage she was doing to the 'cold and impersonal' Hyuuga reputation.

After a moment, two people crawled out from under Haku's bed, each with a vial in hand. Yaone made a face, "That's disgusting."

"It's only a temporary mana suppression potion," Ito shook his head, "It doesn't have to taste good-- we're lucky that it suppressed our chakra at all."

"The fact that you made these up for a joke shop still astonishes me," Yaone muttered, before turning back to their leader, "We'll be back tomorrow, but we'd better get out of here before she returns."

"The Hyuuga will be looking for you now," Haku warned, "It may be harder for us to train."

"We'll think of something," Sen grinned, getting into his favorite position in regards to his brother, "We're ninja, yeah... but we're wizards first. And I doubt they've ever had to deal with a trained wizard before."

Haku smiled tiredly, "Take care of yourselves."

Sen and Ito just laughed, and Yaone chuckled softly. Then they were out of the window, disappearing into Konoha. Haku sighed, and tried to get comfortable.

He still hated hospitals.

* * *

End Chapter

Review responses will be done via email from now on. Please don't forget to leave your email address if you would like a response.

Wow, four more days ((_three in some time zones_)) and For Your Dream will be a year old. I didn't think I'd been writing it for so long...

My apologies for not gettingthis chapter out for four months; FYD had decided that it didn't like me, and I couldn't figure out how to get them out of the Forest of Death... so I pretty much just skipped over it. Yay me.

While the 'Seal Scar' thing is a recent developement, the plot points that spawned it have been around since the beginning of the story. Again, yay me. I can actually stick to a plot on occassion.

Hopefully it won't be another four months before I write the next chapter. You might see some more BSR before then. You might see some more AP or Isshin drabbles. Or a new crossover, because I have been planning one. I'm nuts. I should finish these stories before I start new ones. Ah well...


	24. chapter 24

75. I will hit on the villain. It will confuse him/her, and might even get him/her to change sides. If the villain is the same sex as me, it will probably creep them out. If not, then the original plan still applies.

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY FYD. YOU IS ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!**  
August 29, 2005

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-four  
The Itch

* * *

"If the nurses here are anything like Madame Pomfrey, Haku won't be out of the hospital for another couple of days," Ito mused, staring up at the stars.

They had come to rest atop the Hokage Monument to consider their troubles and options. There wasn't a whole lot that they knew about this world, and without Haku to explain they felt lost.

"Which means we have to occupy ourselves," Yaone sighed, but did not look up from the travel pack she was rummaging through. It wasn't here, but since the twins hadn't objected, she didn't really feel like she was violating their privacy. It looked like there was an entire miniature potions set in the bag, "You have a lot of junk in here."

"Mostly just prank equipment," Sen shrugged, "Stuff we thought might come in handy."

"Like that potion," Ito grinned, "That's another thing-- now we have to avoid a manhunt."

"I am aware of that," Yaone's voice was sharp, and distinctly annoyed. In the few hours since they'd run from Haku's hospital room, she'd been forced to keep her head down, so as not to look at anyone in the eyes. She'd covered one eye with her hitae-ate, so the byakugan wasn't quite as noticeable, and then-- for the first time in her life-- purposely brought attention to the scars that patterned her jaw.Changing the physical appearance was only the first step, as neither knew if there were other ways to track them by what little the Hyuuga nurse had seen of them.

"So what do we do now?" Sen wondered; he didn't think he, personally, had a problem, that might have something to do with being a doll.

"Change our names?" Ito offered.

Yaone gave him a dirty look, "I can barely remember 'Yaone' as it is. And it's not like we ever said our names while in her presence. How about you shave your head?"

Ito's hands went to his head, covering his hair, a horrified look on his face, "Hermione, no! Not my beautiful hair!"

"It's very noticeable hair," Yaone explained with a small smirk, "very bright; I haven't seen any ninja with hair that particular shade, have you?"

"No..."

"Then it's obviously a wizarding shade, to have it without resorting to dyes. Either change it or get rid of it," she stood up, specifically to loom over him for that one sentence. Ito rolled his eyes, crosses his arms, and pouted.

"But I don't want too!"

"But you'll have to!" she parroted the whine, "Look, there isn't much we can do, because we are Wizards before we are ninja-- and we aren't fully trained in either. We'll have to make for some physical changes to stick whatever glamour or genjutsu that we use. It's the safest way, given that neither of us are a metamorphagi."

"How do you know I'm not?" a sly look.

"Because you would have used it by now." a flat look.

"She's got you there, bro," Sen snickered.

"And you," Yaone whirled cheerfully onto the doll, "I'm not sure if she saw you in Haku's room, but better safe than sorry. You're getting a new body; that one looks kinda squished."

"Wha... what?" Sen yelped, "Hey, wait, we don't even know how I got into this body or how the magic effects it, I can't just change dolls at random!"

"Who said anything about that?" she flashed her teeth at him, and the doll shuddered, "I'm going to sew the new body around your current one."

"...do I get any say in what it looks like?"

"No."

"Damn."

---

Time seemed to fly by; Yaone and Ito spending it under constantly changing glamours and genjutsu transformations, dodging any ninja that remotely looked like a Hyuuga

when they hadn't taken off into the woods to train with Haku. The mist-nin struggled for quite some time to fight without calling upon the sealed mana, though after the Preliminaries it was a little easier to do-- surprisingly, all members of Team Seven had made it into the Finals of the Chuunin exam.

Sasuke was training with Kakashi, while Naruto trained with first Ebisu and then the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Sakura had tried to train with one of the female instructors at Kakashi's insistence, but there had been some... problems with that. Even the small amount of poisoned chakra that she had made it difficult to keep Inner Sakura under wraps. The fact that Sakura had decided to follow Sasuke's lead and refrain from informing anyone about her part of the seal.

It was just a small thing, only a partial, and she could sort-of-control it, so why tell anyone? Besides, once Sasuke's seal had been discovered and properly sealed off, she doubted that hers would be very strong. Kakashi's seal had dulled the connection between herself and Sasuke.

So when Sakura got frustrated with her instructors, who all seemed to think she would do better as a mednin and not a proper ninja, she'd taken it out on one of the training grounds-- the one that Haku and his friends used most often. They had come across her pounding away at one of the trees with her family's rite of passage technique.

After that, the pink haired girl joined them in their training sessions, and helped Haku-- who had had very little formal ninja education, and had learned almost everything from Zabuza, who was the same-- focus himself. She had been shocked to hear that Orochimaru had somehow managed to seal his Bloodline Limit, and considered it her duty to help him out, since he received it while helping her team. As something of an analytical genius, Sakura had watched him train with a careful eye for a few days before jumping in with her opinion.

It seemed, to her, that Haku had unconsciously depended on his Bloodline Limit for a large portion of his ninja abilities. Without it, his speed had dropped forty percent, the strength of his blows twenty percent, and by the time a throw hit something, it had lost a good fifty percent of the velocity and therefore strength of his previous abilities.

This was all based on what Naruto and Sasuke had told her-- more Naruto than Sasuke, of course-- so she was sure some of her estimations were off.

Haku had agreed that he felt as though he was lagging behind with every move, and Sakura decided to start with simple academy-level techniques in order to get his strength back. She was surprised to learn that he had never attended an academy. Nor had his teammates; though they were surprisingly weak when she compared their skills and chakra levels to her own.

At Sakura's insistence, Yaone and Ito joined in on some of the lessons, while other times they went off to fight and train with magic, and others they ensconced themselves in Konoha's library looking for any reference to Secondary Seals in an attempt to break the seal that had been placed on Haku.

By the end of the month, Haku had 'graduated' from Sakura's abbreviated 'Ninja Academy', and was deemed "combat capable, but not so much that he should try throwing himself between two jounin." Haku had just smiled at told her that it wasn't in his plans to attempt that again.

Haku was still a little leery of what was going to happen next; his seal was still active, as was Sakura's. The leaf-nin hadn't told anyone about it, despite his urgings.

Sasuke had either forgotten about it, or decided not to tell anyone-- without seeing him; they didn't know which one it was.

While she was helping him, he helped her in kind. While she may not have had a bloodline limit, or even enough mana that she could produce one, she did have a strange

energy about her that was interfering with her chakra. What little she could access of it, she had amazing control over, but there was something else there. Whatever it was, it was close enough to being the opposite of her natural element affinity that most of her chakra was bound up trying to suppress it.

He couldn't really help her 'unblock' it, so to speak, but the mediation techniques he had learned to keep control over his own wayward powers had helped to focus her.

She was surprisingly skilled at using a minimum of chakra for the same things that most ninja didn't even consider limiting. And her patience had been tried and tested again and again throughout their training, so both were sure that it would take something extreme for her to fall to the Curse Seal and unleash the malicious chakra on herself.

With only a few days until the Finals, it only figured that Yaone and Ito would get into trouble.

The witch and the wizard came racing into the training grounds, Ito almost tripping over Sakura, and Yaone grabbing Haku and using him as a human shield to hide herself.

The reason for it was quite obvious-- Nurse Hyuuga and two other Hyuuga family members were hot on their heals. It was only Haku's skill with a kunai that allowed him to block the hail of senbon flung towards him.

"What the hell!" Sakura squawked, before she visibly refrained herself. Standing up, Konoha's cherry blossom girl trained frosty eyes on the Hyuuga. Oh, yes, she knew that they were Hyuuga and that they were the most important and powerful clan in Konoha.

Right at that moment, she didn't really care. She'd only just sat down to mediate to keep Inner under control, so she wasn't in exactly the best of moods. Keeping Inner under control meant that she actually had to make contact with Inner, which meant the little psycho was closer to the surface.

"You would betray the village with these ninja?" the oldest of the Hyuuga looked down on the girl with disdain. Sakura gave him a flat look.

"I would think it the other way around," Haku interrupted before Sakura could get herself into trouble, "As it was I who has been divulging training secrets to Haruno-san. What may we help you with, Hyuuga-sama?"

"The girl," the old man-- and he was old, probably in his fifties or sixties-- sounded annoyed. If he'd been chasing Yaone and Ito around for a while, Haku could probably guess why. The number of pranks that the Weasley twins had been carting around in their bag had been reduced significantly over the past few weeks, "has the Byakugan. She will come with us."

"I am afraid that I cannot allow that," Haku folded his hands in front of him, fingers twitching for senbon that just would not come, "She is my teammate, and as such is my responsibility as long as our instructor is not present. I cannot simply let you take her from us."

"Watch your mouth, boy!" the last of the Hyuuga snapped, her icy eyes boring a hole into Haku's head. Unfortunately for her, he had lived through the vicious glares of the

ninja of the mist, and through Severus Snape's petty little feud-inspired looks; he was unimpressed.

"Calm, Kana," the older Hyuuga raised a hand, "The boy is right. To take her, even during the chuunin exam, against her will, may lead to repercussions with the Mist that we do not want at this time. But we need to know how and why she came to have the Byakugan."

"I understand. I would be most displeased if someone turned up with my family's bloodline," Haku gave a gentle smile, "However, could such a detail not be left to a later time?"

"Our family's head is displeased," the nurse crossed her arms, "It is better that we take care of this _now_ rather than later, before Hiashi-sama must step in himself."

"How would you discern the truth?" Haku wondered.

Off to the side, Sakura, Ito and Yaone watched the "combatants" with stunned looks on their faces. Using logic hadn't really occurred to Ito, Yaone had been too worried about what might happen to her, and Sakura had never seen one of the Elder Hyuuga back down from anything. It was almost as disturbing as Sen's new body.

Said doll was tucked into Yaone's pocket, peering out somewhat hesitantly, wondering what was going on. He spent more time hidden away in pockets and clothing now than he ever had before-- he preferred being a straw doll to being this... thing. He wasn't even quite sure what he was. Like a flattened, demented neon pink rabbit, or something.

Yaone's sewing skills left him wanting.

"What's going on?" the doll hissed. Ito glanced at his brother.

"Haku and the Hyuuga are debating what to do with Yaone. I'm... a little afraid. I mean, they've been chasing us all across Konoha for a month."

"Maybe you shouldn't have let it get so out of control," Sakura's voice was waspish, "then we wouldn't be having these problems."

"Geez, what flew in your bonnet?" Sen quipped. Sakura yanked him out of Ito's pocket to glare at the toy.

"Do no start with me, doll. I will--"

"Sakura-san. Yaone, Ito. We've come to a conclusion," Haku interrupted before any damage could be done to poor Sen. Sakura let the rabbit-thing go, and he flopped to the ground, rather painfully. He had to bite his tongue and freeze up to that the Hyuuga wouldn't realize that he was more than just a little toy.

Hesitantly, Granger eyed the Hyuuga, "What?"

"You will go with the Hyuuga."

"What! Haku, have you lost your mind?" Yaone squawked in English, "are you _trying_ to get me killed?"

"Not at all," the Boy Who Lived smiled pleasantly at her, "Ito... you wouldn't happen to know how to write up a magically binding document would you?"

The prankster blinked a few times, "Nothing official, but we've written a few up as pranks before. Why?"

"Because," with his back to the Hyuuga, Haku felt perfectly safe in smiling sinisterly. All four in front of him shuddered at that look, "the conditions for Yaone going with them are simple. They do nothing that causes permanent damage to her, and they do not hold her for longer than the end of the Chuunin exam."

"And you want to write a contract to ensure this? What's the punishment if they break it?" Ito was already thinking of the spell combinations needed to write up the document.

"A magical binding... based off the Secondary Seal that I bear, of course," Ito's grin matched Haku's in sadistic amusement, "you'll have to get Sakura-san to help you draw up the chakra half of the contract, but it shouldn't be too hard."

"Right then," Ito switched out of English and back to Japanese, "It's agreed then. I'll write the contract with Sakura's help, and Yaone will go with the Hyuuga."

"Yes," Haku smiled pleasantly as he turned back to the Hyuuga family, "You can collect her in an hour or so. We would like to have her back by the time the Chuunin Finals begin, if you would be so kind."

"We will see what we are able to do," the Hyuuga Elder tipped his head in agreement.

Neither one of them mentioned the possibility of the Hyuuga Seal being placed on Yaone. The Elder because he didn't think Haku knew of it, and Haku... well, Haku had reasons and thoughts of his own. Manipulation was one of those things he had learned from a young age at the hand of his master. Zabuza-san had taught him many things.

Dissecting a death-seal would certainly prove interesting, and may be the only way to remove the seal on his mana. He would sacrifice everything for Zabuza-san; his pride, his happiness, his life, even his friends. He would be Zabuza-san's perfect tool, no matter what it took.

---

End Chapter

It's short, but that's because some one /glare/ is on the computer that has all my reference information. I can't go any further without that stuff.

And yes, it doesn't make much sense that Yaone and Ito were able to escape detection for a month. Remember, only Nurse-chan could recognise them on sight, having been the only one able to see them. And there would have been quite some time spent trying to convince someone else that she really had seen an unknown with the Byakugan.

Volume Two should be completed by the end of Chapter 25 or Chapter 26. Then time gets realigned again, and they get paid. Or not. Depends on Tsunade's mood. The chapters are kinda time skipping right now, but that's mostly because I'm itching to get on to the next chapter and dammit that pun wasn't intended. Shut up.

Review responses are done via email; so don't forget to include yours if you're posting anonymously!


	25. chapter 25

**EDIT TO ANNOUNCE: **I have turned off anonymous reviews because if you can't be arsed enough to leave an email address for me to be able to respond to your bitching, you have no right to comment on my story. Thank you, and have a nice day.

"How is it that you always come up with the worst case scenario?"  
"I practice."

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-five  
The Itch

* * *

The day had arrived.

Sakura frowned slightly, eyes raking over the crowds that were gathering outside the arena. Haku and Ito stood on either side of her, and aside from the hunter-nin mask, both were dressed in their full uniforms. As far as Sakura knew, the mask was tucked into the Mist-nin's top. The outfit was recognizable as that of the Missing-nin of the Mist, Haku, but with him being reportedly dead, no one seemed to be batting an eye. She'd been a little leery of letting him go out in that clothing, but the fifteen year old had just smiled and told her that it wouldn't take much for him to use henge and be someone else.

She also knew that the seal on his Bloodline Limit was getting to him. A month now, and he'd been unable to perform even the slightest of manipulation of ice or water; not even one senbon had been created. It frustrated him that he was restricted solely to the use of chakra, when he had been trained in the use of his Bloodline Limit since the time he began his unorthodox ninja training.

Shaking her head free of silly thoughts, Sakura frowned. She couldn't see anyone that she would trust to sit anywhere near Ito. Haku she didn't have any worries for-- but the redheaded trickster had made something of a few enemies in the Hyuuga clan and others over the past month. She knew damn well how poor his skills were when he fought against anyone above the level of an Academy Graduate.

Which didn't explain how he got into the Chuunin Exam, but she had her suspicions about that. Why would Haku have revealed himself in this exam when he could have continued to live without the bounty on his head? The few times she had overheard any words before being noticed, all that she had been able to make out was that Hokage-sama was involved somehow.

But that only raised the question of how Sandaime knew that they were alive, and why he would contact a former Mist-nin instead of using his own ninja. She doubted that Haku was there to go after the Hokage; otherwise he would never have placed himself or his group in the Chuunin Exam to begin with.

And where the hell was Zabuza?

There she went again, thinking about anything and everything aside from what was going to happen today. She was fighting in the Chuunin Exam. Her! _My god, when did that happen? How did it happen?_ Sure she was book smart, but that never truly made a difference out on the field. It was pure luck that she'd defeated Ino like she had.

Inner had not been pleasant to the intruder in her mind, and had made Ino know it-- painfully-- before kicking her out. It was like her own personal demon, living in her head. Inner was the only thing that truly stood between herself and the poisoned chakra that flowed through her veins. Because of Ino's intrusion, Inner had been closer to the surface, and her fury at the breach of her mind had just about sent her out of control. She pretty much thrashed her poor friend. In the end, Sakura had managed to yank Inner back under control, leaving herself weak to the knees and panting, and Ino unconscious.

Sakura didn't feel proud of that battle. It felt like a cheap win; she hadn't done anything.

"Sakura-san," Haku's voice cut through her thoughts, "Do you not have to join the others in the arena?"

"Ack!" she squeaked, "Oh jeez, I didn't even... are you sure that you two are okay alone up here? I mean, you won't have any problems, but Ito...?"

"We'll be fine, Sakura-san," Haku patted her arm, "Go, enjoy the limelight while you can." There was an odd shadow in his eyes that caused the leaf-nin to take a step back. Haku smiled pleasantly at her and turned to go to find his seat. She continued staring after him for a long moment. What was it that she had seen...?

* * *

"Thanks everyone for coming to the Hidden Leaf Chuunin Selection Exam!" the bellow cut through the air, startling Ito out of his travel bag. He'd been digging through it looking for something to amuse himself with, but it appeared that the battles were to begin shortly. With a small frown, he scanned the arena.

"Where's Yaone and Sen?" the little doll had been sent with Yaone as a safety measure.

"We will now start the main tournament matches..."

"I am sure the Hyuuga are bringing her here," Haku smiled pleasantly.

"Between the nine participants who made it through the preliminaries."

Ito frowned, "They were supposed to bring her before the Finals began."

"Please stay and watch until the end!"

"The battles have yet to begin, so I assume that they will be fashionably late," Haku's smile was darkened by the glint in his eye. Ito shuddered. Normally such looks were reserved for 'under the mask', so that no one saw anything other than the devoted hufflepuff, but the Gryfindor was well aware of Haku's more sinister, slytherin side. One couldn't have become a missing-nin and killed so many without being at least partially dark, "They do have quite a bit at stake here."

Ito nodded slowly. The contract that he and Sakura had drawn up with the Hyuuga hadn't been complex. Most magically binding contracts followed a simple, straight forwards formula. Ito had written almost the entire thing up, but had had to rely on Sakura's abilities to analyze and understand chakra to finish it. The seal that they'd put into the contract, and based off of Haku's was hardly complete, but at least the Hyuuga Nurse hadn't been able to figure out what seal they'd put on, aside from it being a 'secondary seal'.

Ito was sure that the Nurse had been laughing silently at him, as it was unlikely that she had a seal that it could work off of, but if Haku said it would work, then it would work. It might not do what it was supposed to, but Ito trusted Haku that there would be some sort of repercussion.

Down below, the prospective chuunin began to file out of the arena, leaving Naruto and his Hyuuga opponent behind. Haku folded his hands delicately in his lap, eyes scanning the crowded arena for the rest of the Hyuuga clan, and therefore Yaone. If she was not brought here before those two attacked each other, then the contract would be considered broken and the magical backlash could cause something of a... problem. It would certainly hurt.

"Now, the first fight-- BEGIN!"

Haku didn't know what the Hyuuga said, as he was more concerned with locating Yaone, but Naruto's shout was quite audible, "Stop all the blabbering! Let's fight!"

As Naruto performed _Kage Bushin no jutsu_, Haku finally caught the eyes of the Hyuuga Clan's Head. Yaone sat a seat behind him, face tucked into her cloak. From her posture, he could assume that the last three days had not been pleasant for her, but as she did not appear to be missing anything, he could assume that she had been well taken care of.

His eyes returned to the Hyuuga's and he bowed his head. The contract had been met. There would be no repercussions this day.

With their business concluded, Haku returned his attention to the battle below. Still smiling that gentle little smile, he watched as the Hyuuga thrashed his friend. It didn't matter that he'd already seen the battle once by use of his Mirror Shard. He'd only seen what could be considered the highlights, as he did have other things to do than to watch a mirror shard all day long.

It would be nice to see the whole battle through.

When the battle lulled, and the Hyuuga boy began to speak of his 'destiny', Ito gaped, "Wha... why would...?"

"Did you not tell me that Voldemort marks all of his followers?" Haku didn't take his eyes from the boys below. Seeing the battle and the reactions in person was so very different from seeing them through a small shard of glass and silver. He may not have been able to see details this time around, but such a thing was hardly necessary in watching this battle of wills.

"Y... yes..."

"It is the same. The Mark and the Hyuuga Seal are used to control possibly unruly soldiers."

Ito frowned as a thought occurred to him, "Then... it's a good thing we put in that 'no permanent harm' clause, hey?"

"The seal only causes permanent harm if used to the point of destroying the mind, and therefore causing death," Haku's lips quirked and Ito felt horror swirl in his gut, "As such, the Hyuuga are perfectly capable of placing the seal on Yaone to keep the secret of their abilities from continuing on."

His mouth dry, Ito eyed Haku, "You planned this."

"In so many words? No. I would like to see how the seal works, so if they placed in on her, I can. If not, then no harm is done," he shrugged, "Besides, if we truly need to, Zabuza-san and I know how to create the Byakugan now."

"Create...?" Ito could say nothing more than the one word, before an explosion of chakra and mana yanked his attention back to the fight below, "What the hell!"

"This is..." a shiver of fear ran down Haku's spine, "...the evil chakra that defeated me!"

_It looks so different now!_ Haku's cold fear clouded his mind, but he clung to his thoughts to drag himself out of that dark pit. The beast that had nearly killed him had been born of an inferno of red chakra, shaped as a fox's head. Now that red chakra appeared as nine giant sweeping tails of power.

Haku's hand slipped into his robe and he clutched at the mask within, fingers scoring the clay. _Such terrifying abilities...!_

It was only another couple of minutes, but it felt like forever, that imposing chakra baring down on the crowd as Naruto fought. He'd reined it in, but for those who had had contact with it before, it could not be hidden away while being used.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

Haku stood up as the clapping began, releasing the mask and stretching his fingers. He'd held on so tightly that they hurt...

As the evil chakra faded, the mist-nin all but glided through the crowds towards the Hyuuga clan head. He, too, had stood and was making his way through the crowds, leaving his young daughter behind. Yaone sat stiffly, still with her head tucked behind her collar, but nearly jumped out of her skin when Haku's hand landed on her shoulder.

She looked up, and Haku had to fight with himself not to react, though his eyes still widened. There was no sign of either her natural eye color or the pupil-less violet gaze he had become accustomed to. Instead, the empty white eyes of the Hyuuga looked up at him, "Haku..."

"Yaone," he paused, glancing at the young Hyuuga in front of them, before switching into English, "Did the Hyuuga leave you with any standing orders?"

Anger turned the Granger girl's face crimson, "You... you asshole. You knew!"

"Knew what? I had assumed from looking at your eyes that the Hyuuga had adopted you and made you a member of their family," as Ito came up behind him, Haku wondered at what would happen next. Yaone becoming fully proficient in the Byakugan had not been in the plans, and it looked as though they might have lost the chance to train her to use the Sharingan as well.

"Branch Family," Yaone spat, "You knew before I even got involved with the Hyuuga what would happen."

"He _says_ he didn't plan it," Ito's voice was flat, "Though he's certainly not disturbed by it."

Haku frowned at the two of them, "You never answered my question, Yaone. Do you have any standing orders?"

"To watch over Hyuuga Hanabi-sama when Hyuuga Hiashi-sama is not there to do so."

"I suspected as much. Ito, please stay with Yaone. Perhaps you could teach the young Heiress a few tricks," he turned and began to walk away.

Ito scowled, "Where are you going?"

It was in Japanese that Haku responded, "Hyuuga-sama and I have some business to conclude."

Neither Hiashi nor Haku had returned by the time the next match was announced, so Ito settled himself into the seat that had been the young Hyuuga's father's. She was a grumpy little girl, but no more so than some of the females he had met in his years at Hogwarts.

"And now, the next match!" came the announcer's shout, "Kankurou and Haruno Sakura! Come down!"

"...I forfeit."

* * *

Sakura had planted her hands on the railing and had been about to jump down when Kankurou's call froze her, "What?" she turned to glare at the older boy, annoyed, "You ass, you're denying me a match after I worked so hard to get here!"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "I just don't feel like it."

"At least your female teammate has some balls," she spat, watching the blonde enter the arena, "even if they aren't anatomically there."

"Watch it girlie," Kankurou growled, and Sakura sneered at him.

"You wanna take me on? Then get down there and fight."

"Stop your whining, bitch."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched as Inner banged her fists against her mental cage, screaming to be let out and to rip the ass to pieces, "You little--"

"Shut up."

The pink haired girl blinked and the puppeteer froze. Both of them turned to look at the redheaded youth standing at the railing.

"You're starting to annoy me," Sabaku no Gaara continued, not once looking up from the battle between his sister and the leaf ninja. Sakura opened her mouth to tell him to mind his own business, when Kankurou's hand clamped around it.

She bit his hand, and he cursed loudly, "Goddamit, what the hell! I'm just trying to keep you alive, you little psycho!"

"I can take care of myself," she snapped, "so don't touch me."

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted before it could get any worse, "What's Shikamaru doing?"

She blinked, moving over to her teammate's side, completely ignoring Kankurou, "How the hell should I know?"

"You're friends with Ino, right? Doesn't she tell you anything?"

"Why would Ino tell me about her teammates?" Sakura smacked him upside the head. Well, it looked like she wouldn't get her match until the next round, but she could at least watch. Sulkily, she leaned against the railing. Though she would've liked to have fought, at least she would be fresh for the next round. An invaluable trump card.

"Winner: Temari!"

"Why did he give up? Is he an idiot? This pisses me off, I'm gonna go give him a lecture!"

Sakura let out a small yelp as Naruto threw himself over the railing, completely forgetting that she had been about to do the same only moments before, "Naruto you ass!"

"Lectures are tricky things," Shino mused from the other side of her, "If you don't want to anger the other party."

Even with the amusing scene of Naruto berating Shikamaru down below, the crowd was getting restless. Shouts and calls came from all directions, demanding the Uchiha fight. With a sigh, Sakura leaned forwards. _Where is he...?_

Almost as soon as she thought it, leaves began to swirl through the middle of the arena, and two forms became visible. Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke had arrived.

"That was rather dramatic."

Sakura half-shrieked with fright at the voice that came from behind her. Whirling around and clutching at her chest, she glared up at the mist-nin standing there. After a moment, anger became confusion, "Haku...? Why are you wearing your mask? And what happened to it?"

He was indeed wearing the hunter-nin mask, several deep gouges digging through the clay across the right cheek. She couldn't see it, but having spent a month training with him, she was sure he was smiling behind that mask, "I thought a new look would be nice, as I no longer have to pretend I am a genin for Ito and Yaone."

Sakura frowned, "For... do they not know?"

The hunter-nin patted her on the shoulder with a smile, and proceeded to turn her to face back towards the arena, "They know what they know and what they do not know they do not. What matters now is this match. Won't you watch?"

"Uh... yeah, of cour-- Haku what are you doing here this is for..." she trailed off as she turned around again. The mist-nin had vanished. She frowned, "Shino-kun, where did Haku go?"

The Aburame shrugged, "He left."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. That was completely unhelpful. Annoyed, the girl stomped away from the railing and into the arena's corridors. He was probably back with Ito. Well, she'd just have to give him a piece of her mind! And it wasn't as though like the match between the sand-guy and Sasuke-kun had started yet so she wasn't missing anything.

Once she was gone, Haku dropped down off the ceiling. This is what he had been waiting for; what their mission was truly about. What happened during this match could make or break the world that he had come from. So once he had finished with Hiashi, he had donned his mask and come to find Sakura. His memories told him that she had been in the crowd; and he wanted everything to be as close to the original as possible, despite his own changes.

Folding his arms into his sleeves, he tipped his head to Aburame, and walked away. Not towards where the spectators were supposed to be, but towards the outer wall of the arena. Yaone and Ito could figure out their own parts without his help, but there were certain events he had to ensure happened _exactly_ as he remembered them.

If that meant killing a leaf that got too close to changing what he knew, than so be it.

* * *

Everything seemed to change so quickly. She had come across Kakashi and had been about to ask him if he had seen Haku when Sasuke's battle with Gaara had begun. She had stood there, transfixed by it, completely forgetting the mist-nin that she'd been chasing. And then something had gone wrong. Kakashi and Gai were dispelling a genjutsu of some sort and the only thing she could think of to do was to follow their example.

The Kazekage kidnapped the Hokage.

The ANBU in the arena had taken action.

The rest of Gaara's team joined him in the arena.

Sasuke ran off.

"Kakashi, look within the barrier," Gai's voice cut through her distressed thoughts and anchored her somewhat. She was a ninja, and sometimes missions went to hell. She had to stay calm, stay ready.

"Orochimaru!"

Sakura's hand went to her neck, and the shallow scars that marked where the Snake Sannin's fangs had grazed her. _Orochimaru...? Why? Why is he here? It can't be for Sasuke-kun again-- he said... he said that Sasuke would come to him. But Kakashi..._

Kakashi had sealed the Uchiha's mark, hadn't he? Did that mean Orochimaru couldn't control him through it now? So he could be after Sasuke-kun...!

Before she could do anything more than turn towards where he had jumped out of the arena, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Inner was still itching for a fight, having been denied the battle with Kankurou, and Sakura didn't know what the situation was.

She let up the restraints on her. Not completely, but enough that Inner's particular battle skills were available for her. The mark and scars on her neck twinged as she bounced backwards, producing a kunai in each hand. She needn't have worried-- Kakashi had gone over top of her as she moved backwards, eliminating the two Sound Ninja that had jumped at her.

"Sakura, stay like that for a bit... I'll even the odds a little."

Sakura shot him a glare as he leapt into the arena, quickly followed by Gai. The two jounin were thrashing the Sound-nin that they fought against, and Sakura felt useless. She would get in the way if she tried to get into that battle. She _hated_ feeling useless.

"Sakura!"

She stopped berating herself as Kakashi's voice split the air; "It was worth teaching you genjutsu during the genin survival training. As I thought, you have a talent for genjutsu..."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. Just for genjutsu? Sure, Kakashi hadn't seen her in a month, but surely he would have been able to tell that she could do more than play with illusions.

"Nullify the genjutsu and wake up Naruto and Shikamaru. This is the first mission you've had in quite a while..."

"What kind of mission?"

"Listen carefully. Since the first time since the Wave Country Mission, an A Class mission..."

The Wave Country Mission...? She drew in a breath. _Haku..._ She had intended to find him before this mess began. Where ever he was, Sakura could only hope he was on their side. She didn't want to have to kill a friend.

She brushed those thoughts off, "Sensei! At a situation like this... what kind of 'A' Rank mission?"

"Sasuke is in pursuit of Gaara and the others from the Sand. Sakura... you are to nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru, and track down Sasuke."

"For that... shouldn't I wake up Ino and Choji, then all of us..."

"Most likely shinobi from the Sand and Sound have already entered the village," Kakashi interrupted, "with more than the basic four man small team, you lose speed and it becomes harder to remain hidden... you learned that during the patrol drills at the academy, right?"

"Yeah... wait, four? Who's the other person?"

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu_!"

When the smoke cleared from the technique, Sakura's mouth went dry. That was the biggest damn dog she had ever seen. The massive black mutt hopped off of the back of the man he'd been summoned on, and Kakashi blinked a few times.

"I didn't intend to summon you, Sirius. But in any case, Sakura-- Sirius here will be able to track Sasuke down by his scent."

"Wait a moment, the last person is a _dog_?"

Sirius gave a wuffling laugh before a strange shiver seemed to over take him. After a moment, he settled and to Sakura's surprise, spoke, "Relax, kiddo. Give me a little credit here."

"You can talk?" Kakashi leaned around the dog to look him in the face, "Why haven't you ever talked to me? Pakkun talks to me."

"Because it takes a lot of ma... chakra to make my vocal cords human, without going all the way. Pakkun talks because he's weird."

"Right, right. Alright Sakura, nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru."

"Right!" grabbing hold of Sirius' ruff, the ninja and the nin-dog slipped passed the unconscious bodies of the spectators to get to the loudest and laziest ninja.

Naruto was easy to wake up, just dispel and poke. Shikamaru on the other hand...

Sirius gave a woof, and promptly pounced on the boy, "Oof! Get off me!"

"You were able to deflect the genjutsu too," Sakura snapped, "Why the hell were you playing possum?"

"Bah," the Nara snorted, shoving Sirius off of him, "I didn't want to be attacked. I refuse! Who cares about Sasuke?"

"So what's going on?" Naruto yawned, only to get slammed into the ground by his pink haired love, "Sa-Sakura-chan...?"

"Fast..." croaked a voice from behind, and Sakura sat up, Naruto twisted around to find Maito Gai behind them. He'd slammed the Sound Ninja that Sakura had seen coming into the wall behind them.

"Not just fast," the jounin smirked, and sent him through the wall.

"Now I'll restate your mission!" Kakashi had appeared between them and the arena, "Once you've heard it, escape through that hole. Chase after Sasuke, join up with him, and stop him. Then take him away to a safe location!"

"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto wondered.

"I'll explain as we go," Sakura snagged the boy's orange jacket and dragged him out through the hole, Sirius a half step behind her. Shikamaru groaned.

"Why me...?"

* * *

End Chapter

Two chapters in one day. Wow. That happens... once a year. Hey, Happy Birthday "For Your Dream". Hopefully by your second birthday you're finished, so I don't have to kill myself typing up another "double release"!

Though I could have released this seven hours ago when I actually finished the thing. But I decided last night that I'd post just after midnight and just before midnight as a 'opening' and 'closing' to the day. Yay!

More skipping around and I think it might be a bit disconjointed. I decided to use the Manga as the reference for this part, unlike the rest which is based on the Anime, because it's faster to read a manga and jump over the bits that don't need to be written, than to go through an episode estimating where important stuff is needed for the fic.

We're getting closer now, to going back to Hogwarts. Volume Two is closed. Chapter Twenty-Six begins Volume Three: "_Sealed, Scarred, and Broken._" If you get the references, you might just figure out where a tiny piece of the plot is going.

Sorry there wasn't muchabout Yaone and the deal with the Hyuuga. That becomes important in a few chapters, once important "Naruto Plot Stuff" is finished off and we can go back to throwing Haku & Zabuza at Hogwarts and seeing how many walls they ricochet off of.

Review responses are done via email; so if you're not logged in when you write your review, don't forget to leave your email address!

**EDIT TO ANNOUNCE: **I have turned off anonymous reviews because if you can't be arsed enough to leave an email address for me to be able to respond to your bitching, you have no right to comment on my story. Thank you, and have a nice day.


	26. chapter 26

_"That doesn't suit you at all. You should wear a dress or nothing-- and I happen to not have a dress in my cabin!" _

* * *

For Your Dream  
Volume Three, Chapter Twenty Six  
The Itch

* * *

Layer after layer after layer of spells had been woven into her high-collared cloak. Any sort of defensive spell she had found while digging through the books and annuals in Hogwarts' massive library had been woven into it. Some spells had broken others, some had cumulative effects, while others would 'scan' as being there, but due to other spells placed before or after, would do nothing.

It was no surprise that a simple genjutsu to make an arena sleep would have no effect on the latest member of the Branch Hyuuga, while she wore that cloak. Still, she was a survivor and survivors knew when to act and when to leave things be. She had slumped in her chair just like the rest of the people in the arena. Just like Ito and Hanabi.

Sen had twitched in her hands, letting her know that he, too, was still awake, and for that she was grateful.

Her slump turned into a slide, and soon she was crouched behind the row of seats that Ito and the young Hyuuga had been sitting in.

"What's the deal?" Sen's voice was barely audible, whispered into her ear. The witch frowned.

"We're not prepared for a battle like this. Can you watch Ito for me?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take Hanabi-sama back to the Hyuuga Compound, it's the best place for us to be right now, protected and without fear of someone coming after her for her eyes."

Sen nodded his understanding, before hopping up onto the back of one of the chairs they were behind. The rabbit-thing glared in all directions before hopping down, "Looks like the enemy is more preoccupied with the few Rookie Nine who are awake and the Leaf-jounin. You can take her and get out of here without being seen, I think."

"Thank you, Fred," she stood up, grabbing the Hyuuga girl and swinging her onto her back. Then the fifteen year old was running, fully intent on getting away from the arena before she was noticed.

Apparently, however, it was to much to ask to be able to run across a war zone without being attacked. To be honest, Yaone had made it more than half way to the Hyuuga Compound, which was a feat in and of itself. Unfortunately, "half-way" does not equal "safe".

Yaone's paranoia, a thing of legends back at Hogwarts, was the one thing that saved her. The hair on her left arm had jumped to attention, and following long-honed instincts, the witch abruptly changed directions, dodging right. It had saved the lives of Hanabi and herself, the rain of kunai missing them by a good two feet.

She didn't want to stop running, but the two large Sound ninja that blocked her way were kind of hard to ignore.

"Well, well," chuckled one of the brutes, "Looks like we've got ourselves one of the Hyuuga."

Yaone had shifted herself into a defensive stance, holding Hanabi with one arm and a kunai in her free hand. She was screwed, and she knew it. She couldn't even get her wand out without having to drop either her weapon or her charge.

Neither action was an option she was willing to take, and she bounced lightly on her toes, frantically searching for an escape route.

"What, no chatter?" the voice came from behind her, and Yaone knew it was the one who had tried to use her as a pincushion, "that brat in the arena seemed to have a lot to say."

"I'm not a Hyuuga," Yaone narrowed blank eyes, though she did not stop her search.

The men laughed, "Your eyes say otherwise, girl."

The other brute licked his lips, "If you come quietly, you can have a nice place in the Sound Village."

The way his eyes raked her body disgusted her, and she was abruptly aware that the way she stood had pushed her cloak back and revealed the clothing that was underneath. It was nothing indecent by ninja standards-- the mesh under shirt was covered by a tank-top and a pair of cargo pants that cut off at mid-shin. Still, his leer made her feel downright naked.

As such, she made a retching noise, and the brute's face darkened. With nary a warning, he attacked, and Yaone found herself on the defensive. She could dodge, and she could occasionally block his strikes with her kunai, but overall, he was winning.

She was completely unaware of being herded, right up until she hit a wall, and realised that the only way to get away was to go _through_ the three Sound-nin.

Terror pounded in her chest... _familiar_ terror. She'd been in this position before, just a little under five years earlier. Then, she had been a terrified first year, crouching in a bathroom, a troll looming over her head.

Now, she was a competent witch, and a budding ninja. She was faced with three enemies, all much more powerful than she. That hated, despised terror that had been the reason behind her unceasing defensive efforts was overtaking her again.

But now, unlike then, she had training. She could mould mana and chakra. Make it do as she pleased. Though not perfect, nor even easy, she could feel what the power that slept inside her wished to do. It churned in her belly, her mana begging for release.

The byakugan had never felt like this...

Her body trembled with the effort of holding that furious mix of mana and chakra down. Was this how Haku felt when the ice crept through his veins? How Fred felt when the lightning raged in his soul?

"Ha-ha, look at the little girl tremble!" one of the Sound laughed, "She doesn't deserve that hitae-ate!"

He was right. She didn't deserve it.

Of all of Zabuza's subordinates, she was the only one who had been determined to get a full wizarding education. Fred and George had been willing to drop everything for Zabuza-- he had taught them how to refine the bond that kept Fred alive. George's soul was no longer being eaten away by Fred's, and for that they would always be grateful. They would even have turned their backs on the magic that had created them for him.

And Haku... she'd gotten an up close and personal demonstration for how far the former Harry Potter would go for his mentor. Haku had done some despicable things for Momochi. Things one would not think of when they looked at the polite, effeminate hunter ninja.

To keep the man from worrying over him-- not that Hermione would ever call it such a thing-- Haku was willing to sacrifice his friends. Yaone was not so stupid that she hadn't been able to pick out his intentions when they had met in the arena stands.

She had been the only one unwilling to fully dedicate herself to being a ninja, despite having requested the training. What a ninja considered commonplace had abhorred her.

While Sen and Ito had had to come to terms with those they had killed to get into the exam, she had not. She had only gotten angry with Haku. She had denied the part of her that _enjoyed_ being a ninja for the past month.

Ninja.

Shinobi.

Kunoichi.

She could not call herself any of these. She had chosen the coward's path, had made herself a danger to those around her. To those that depended on her.

Like Hanabi...

Her thoughts raced through her skull in the second between the Sound's accusation and her decision. It was time to stop thinking like a witch, and time to start acting like a ninja.

Mana and chakra exploded out of her, a shield forming between herself and the Sound ninja. It was the opposite of everything she had felt when Haku unleashed his Bloodline limit. His was cold and smooth, an entity fully bound to his will.

Her chakra burned, wild and out of control, lashing out at her opponents and herself. Her mana gave it form, a raging wall of flames.

The danger to herself was something she could ignore, revelling in the feel of her chakra and mana working as one, as it always should have, instead of being forced on an unnatural path. Despite the pain, despite the destruction of her own body, the inferno was bliss.

Hyuuga Hanabi's scream of fear and pain was not so easily ignored.

Yaone swept the girl up and behind her, blocking the worst of her own power with her body. She needed control. She should never have allowed it to get so out of control. Focusing, she stretched her fledgling senses, trying to reign in her furious power; to quell the raging flames. It hurt so badly to draw the fire back to herself, when she wanted to just let it rage uncontrolled until she burnt herself out.

It was a freedom that she had to deny herself.

Her mana came back to her, flooded back into her body, whispering promises of destruction, of power, of mayhem, if she would only let it rage on. But she had more control than that, she had a child to protect. She drew it back, forcing it to return to it's docile pathways in her body.

She should have remembered that the pathways she wanted her chakra to take had been forced. They were not what her chakra was meant to follow. It was only as she felt a lick of burning chakra touch her eyes that she recalled.

And then all she knew was pain.

* * *

The bushin formed around him, without ever having to ask his brother. Was there any better partnership? Sen didn't think so-- though right now, he should be thinking less about how awesome he and Ito were, and more about surviving. He'd heard Hermione's piercing shriek of pain-- familiar from months of training so closely with her-- and used his Bloodline Limit to force his brother awake before the sound had petered off. They had taken off towards the Hyuuga compound, desperate to find their missing friend.

Screw Konoha. Screw the mission. Their friend was in danger!

Unfortunately, that had only managed to deliver them into the hands of the three Sound-nin that had been chased off by Yaone's flurry of flames. They had closed ranks on what the ninja and his puppet, determined that they would get at least one kill that day. The brothers had little choice but to fight back.

Though the bushin was only a temporary shell, and it wasted quite a bit of chakra to keep himself floating in it, Sen was counting on the surprise of the bushin being an independently thinking entity to aid them. Otherwise, the two neophyte ninja wouldn't have any chance at all. This was not a good situation to be in when out numbered and in a war zone.

Sen launched himself forwards, focusing on his Bloodline Limit. Lightning crackled around the hidden rabbit-thing, and while the sound of it was rather noticeable, the bushin hid the energy itself. He fought with simple kicks and punches. Sweeps, leaps, and tackles, the basics of brawler fighting, and what little ninja skills Zabuza, Haku, and Sakura had been able to impart to him were easily parried by the Sound-nin Chuunin. It was easy enough for the Sound to note the lack of finesse behind the movements, and while brawler strength and desperation may have been on the side of the mist-nin, that was hardly an equal exchange for skill.

Sen was sent flying backwards, into his brother, with a nicely timed aikido throw, and his body vanished on impact. The tiny lightning bug leapt back onto the offensive, no longer going for physical attacks, but still doing little damage. God, he wished Haku was there to help out! And unsealed Haku, even. Water would definitely be helpful right about now.

"Gred!"

Especially since Ito had been grabbed in a bear hug by his own opponent. Skinny and tall as the Weasley was, George was little match for the massive ninja that had caught him. And the ninja obviously knew it by the smirk on his face, as he squeezed his captive. Sen could hear the pops as his brother's arms were dislocated. All this was taken in in an instance, and the tiny doll _howled_ with rage, lightning crackling across his little fabric body.

It began to smoulder, and ignite.

None of that mattered, especially not as the doll threw himself at the Sound-nin. The little bag of rage and fury burnt up before his brother's very eyes, and a beast of lightning and thunder burst into existence. George gaped in wonder and horror, while the Sound-nin could only try to grasp the fact that the doll that they had assumed to be under the control of some hidden puppeteer, had become a bird that crackled with energy.

A moment later, and Ito realised that the Sound-nin were so preoccupied by his brother's transformation that the big one had loosened his grip. Ito slipped out of the circle of his arms, bolting down a side road. He could hear the Sound-nin bellow behind him, and he fumbled around in his pockets for a second.

Within sixty seconds, the trio of Sound-nin raced pasted a tomcat, calmly cleaning it's paws. And a few minutes after that, the cat was running full tilt back to where he'd seen his brother's spontaneous transformation, wondering what he would find. The sight that he came across was enough to send him into little kitty convulsions of laughter.

The falcon glared out from under the fishing net he'd found himself trapped by, the lightning that had hidden his true form long gone. A frustrated movement and screech of irritation made the tomcat roll his eyes, before cutting through the ropes with his claws. It was, after all, just a fishing net, and had no reinforcement to keep whatever was caught, caught.

The twin wizards, one under the effect of spontaneous animagus transformation, and the other having swallow an "animal for ten" pill. Ito's magical candy would wear off in ten minutes, but who knew when Sen's transformation would wear off? Either way, the twins continued in the direction that they'd originally started out. They had a friend to recover, after all.

* * *

Haku was _very_ particular about how he guided the battle that had ended the chuunin exam. They had been hired to protect Konoha, after all. Protecting Konoha did not mean that all damage had to be prevented, but it certainly helped with the image he was trying to project. He didn't want to create a paradox, and therefore, he needed to _make_ a reason for Konoha to call on Zabuza-san and himself. That meant using the plan he had created on the first night of this crazy mission.

He kept himself to one area of Konoha, far from where the Rookie Nine had gone into battle. He made sure that he was seen visibly aiding Konoha, as well as valiantly fighting the Sound ninja alongside the Leaf ninja. He tried to keep property damage down in the area where he was fighting. And most importantly... he managed to scare a few Sound-nins in the direction of his team mates. They needed to be occupied just enough to prove their worth, as well as keeping them out of the way of the Rookie Nine.

With all that said and done, the former Mist-nin unleashed his fury and irritation. He wanted to be at Zabuza-san's side. The past few weeks had marked the longest that he'd ever been apart from his side, and it was such an odd feeling not to have Zabuza-san there, ready to pick him up should he fail. At least he had his team mates at his side to help him.

However, he didn't know how long they would stay with them, and that helped fuel his ire. His goals had always been geared towards aiding Zabuza-san and it seemed that they had forgotten that, given their reactions to Yaone's new seal. There were multiple reasons for her to get that seal, and he had hoped that she would understand the need to figure out how to dissect a death seal. Nonetheless, they had to stick together until at least they got back to Hogwarts. Then he'd let her, and the twins, do as they wanted. If it came down to it, Zabuza-san didn't need a team of weapons. He had Haku, as he always had, and one good, solid weapon, was all any ninja would need.

Still, he'd miss his team mates when they left him.

* * *

End Chapter

So, funny story. I started this chapter EIGHT MONTHS ago. I got to the end of the scene with Hermione. I was supposed to go into a scene with Sakura, specifically how Inner Sakura and the curse seal would change her interaction with Gaara... and I was stumped I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do. So I left it for awhile. I came back four months ago. I wrote a little more, editing and playing around with the Hermione scene... but I still couldn't figure out what to do with the Sakura scene.

A few days ago I said "screw it, I'm not writing that damn scene if it doesn't want to be written."

Today I bought a new notebook. My co-worker left an hour earlier than normal. I grabbed one of the pens from the jar by the cash register... and began to write. There you have it. Chapter 26, after almost eleven months.


	27. chapter 27

_"Gravity works."  
"I know_

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 3, Chapter 27  
The Itch

* * *

"Why, exactly, is that Sen is a raptor?"

"Huh?" George blinked in confusion as he turned to face his teammate. "He's not a raptor, Haku. He's a falcon."

The battle had ended a number of hours earlier, leaving Konoha's citizens to pick up the pieces of their lives and shattered city. The mist ninja had rejoined his teammates shortly after George had returned to his human form, and together they had helped bring Hermione to the hospital. She had been unconscious when they had arrived at her location, and even now they had no idea what had happened to her.

The silence had hung heavy over them for long minutes as Haku considered his own failures over the course of the mission; he had misjudged his teammate's current abilities and now Hermione was comatose and Fred was a bird. Mentally he shied away from contemplating the kunoichi's condition and had focused on the less troubling of the two 'problems'. The fifteen year old rested his hand on George's shoulder. "In this case, Ito, the term 'raptor' refers to an avian predator, a bird of prey, so to speak. A falcon is just one such predator, and is therefore a raptor."

"I thought raptors were those dino-thingies muggle love," the Wizard-born ninja raised his eyebrow in challenge. Haku gave him a small, amused, smile in return.

"Dinosaurs, not dino-thingies. And yes, you are correct. A raptor is a type of dinosaur. It's also a type of bird."

George shook his head in amazed exasperation. "Why do muggles have to complicate things so much?"

"Oh, it's not the muggles that are the problem," the mist nin chuckled. "It's the English!"

"Hey now! You're English too, you know!"

"The language, not the--"

"Excuse me?" the two teenagers broke from their arguement to blink up into the face of a nurse that had taken up the task of staring them down. "This is a hospital, not the academy. Take your childish antics elsewhere!"

"Geez... what crawled up her butt?" George muttered in English. Despite the fact that she couldn't understand exactly _what_ he had said, she certainly understood the tone of _how_ he'd said it.

"Out!" she snapped, fisting her hands on her hips.

"But our teammate--" Haku started, only to have the nurse turn her glare directly on him.

"You will be able to see them _tomorrow_. You two are disrupting the hospital staff with your argument. You can return after you've calmed down!"

Without even realizing what she was doing, the pair of teenagers had been herded down the hall and shoved out into the street at this point. The door slammed harshly behind them, and they stared at it in incomprehension for a long moment. George turned to Haku, mouth opening and closing a few times in shock before he managed to get out: "_We_ were being disruptive?"

"Someone is on a power trip," Haku agreed with a small nod. They took another moment to quietly contemplate the hospital entrance and the likelihood of getting physically thrown out if they attempted to return to Hermione's room. It was a mutual, if unspoken, agreement that they would return later when the nurse had had a chance to calm down. It had been a long and hard day, after all, and the hospital likely didn't need a couple of teenagers and a bird taking up any room.

On that note... Haku turned a sidelong glance on his teammate. "You still haven't explained why Sen is a bird."

Fred gave a mocking 'scree!', and his brother scowled darkly. "Not that type of bird, seeds for brains."

Though the exchange may have just been the normal teasing between brothers, Haku made a note to test if George was still able to understand Fred while he was in this form. "As I said earlier, the English language is messed up."

George rolled his eyes, "You just enjoy being annoying, Haku."

With a soft laugh, Haku patted his shoulder consolingly as he began to steer them away from the hospital. "I have you for a friend, don't I?"

At that, George froze on the spot and turned an incredulous stare on the younger ninja. "You..."

"What's wrong?"

"You've... never actually called us your friends before," the redhead's voice was quiet and a little strained. "You've always been so... so... so _devoted_ to the Boss. We just assumed that you... and then there was all that stuff with the Hyuuga and Yaone..."

Haku sighed as he crossed his arms and looked up into the star-studded Konoha night. "Ito..." he paused for a moment and then switched into English. "George. Zabuza-san will _always_ come first in my life. He means everything to me. But... do you know what I was thinking when you two were first discovered by the Hyuuga clan?"

George shrugged. He hadn't really considered it since he had been so concerned with staying just one step ahead of them... and then fearing for Hermione while she was in their control...

Haku struggled for a long moment. He'd never really had to put his emotions into words before; Zabuza-san always seemed to know what was going through his mind at any time. Finally, he looked away from the other ninja. "It wasn't about Zabuza-san, or about the pros and cons of the Hyuuga seal. It was that you three were crafty enough, paranoid enough, that I wouldn't have to worry about your safety. I had helped to train you, after all. But I still worried, anyways. Because you were my friends."

Both of the twins stared at him in shock. "So... so if..." George trailed off, trying to understand just where Haku was coming from. "Why did you agree to sealing Hermione, then? Why did you put one of your friends in danger like that."

"It was a mistake on your part to get caught."

"You can't blame it on us!" George bellowed, his eyes narrowing as rage burned through him. Fred gave an agreeing shriek and Haku favored them both with a dark look, throwing them off for a moment. They kept forgetting that the gentle Hufflepuff could still be quite the evil little snake when it came down to it.

"I'm not," he explained with a patient look, his moment of darkness vanishing as quickly as it appeared. "What I am saying is that you made a mistake and I capitalized on it. Knowing how the Hyuuga death seal works will be a great advantage to Zabuza-san's long term goals."

"Long term...? What long term goals?"

It was a good that that this conversation was entirely in English, Haku reflected. "The assassination of the Mizukage, George. He tried once before, and he failed. But with us on his side, and the knowledge and usable information that we gain, I have no doubt that next time he will succeed."

George's mouth fell open at the declaration, scrambling for some response that wasn't 'What?!'. It was difficult to grasp, that _that _had been the reason behind... well, everything. "And... and what if we decided not to help the Boss?"

Haku bowed his head, his hands folded demurely in front of him. "In deference to our friendship, I would not stop you from leaving Zabuza-san. This goes for Hermione, as well. However..."

"However?"

"However, I will be forced to alter your memories, in order to erase this conversation." Haku gave a one sided shrug. "Traitors are unacceptable, and I do not what to have to kill you."

_Don't make me kill you_, was left unsaid, but George could hear it loud and clear. He closed his eyes and considered his next move in this verbal game of give and take. He just did not know what to say to Haku, to say in response to knowing that while the younger ninja considered them friends, he would still kill them on Zabuza's orders... or even to ensure that they did not cause problems for Zabuza's plans.

"Right... So! You were asking about why Sen is a falcon?"

Haku blinked in surprise at the sudden topic change, before smiling knowingly. George wanted some time to think things through. It was a good sign, he hoped. "Yes, I did."

"It's called 'spontaneous animorphic self-transfiguration'. It doesn't happen as often as it used to since the minsitry put through this law that says all pumpkin juice need to have a specifics 'additive' to it to protect against it," George began to explain, complete with over the top sweeping gestures for some unknown reason. Haku felt that he could assume that it was due to Fred's current inability to talk, and George felt he needed to over compensate. "It's like that stuff muggles put in their water for their teeth.

"SAST happens in moments of strees and with a strong feeling of needing to escape," George was really getting into those arm motions now. "Witches caught and burned at the stake used to go through it alot. Of course, someone decided that if his magic responded to danger by turning him into an animal, why couldn't he try to control it? Smart guy, that Gamabunta. But anyways, without the additive, I guess Fred just... tapped into it. I don't know, it's not like he was human to begin with."

"That _is_ curious," Haku considered it for a moment then shook it off. They just didn't have enough information for anything more than idle speculation, and quite frankly, idle speculation was never a good idea when it came to a ninja.

"So now what?"

"Hmmm?" Haku blinekd out of his thoughts, which had somehow turned to speculating about how long it would take them to realign themselves into the proper timeline again. Certainly not _too_ long now...

"What are we going to do now? Yaone's in a coma, Sakura is recovering from her battle, my brother's a bird and we've been kicked out of the hospital. Now what?"

Haku didn't even have to consider it. "We train, of course."

* * *

"Well?"

"There's not much to say. This is the most unique case of chakra burnout that I've ever seen." the doctor let his jutsu fade away and he turned to look at his assistant. He wasn't exactly sure how his patient could be a Hyuuga, as he was the Hyuuga clan's personal physician, and he had never seen her before. However, questioning a Hyuuga was much like performing open heart surgery while the patient was awake without anesthesia or restraints. He wasn't going to get an answer to his questions any time soon.

His assistant blinked in surprise, "That's chakra burnout?"

In all of her years as a nurse, she had never once seen a case of chakra burnout that had physically damaged the victim like this. The girl had only been in the Hyuuga clan for less than a week and now the reason for--

"What the...?" the doctor whirled back to his patient, his passive scanning medical jutsu having indicated a rapid change in her readings. This wasn't just one reading, either. Everything that indicated life had spiked.

"Whu... what...?" the word was slurred with fatigue and the edge edges of pain, but it was most definitely a word. She should have been out for longer; they had pumped her so full of chemicals and performed so many sedation jutsu that she should have been out cold for another three days while they monitored her. As the doctor fussed over the patient, the nurse's eyes went to the cloak that they had not been able to remove. It had been so charged with chakra that any attempt to cut it off had merely broken the scissors, and chakra scalpels had skittered across it's surface, unable to cut.

Briefly, she wondered if the girl would share the secret. Briefly. Then she was focusing back on the patient herself, ready to be called upon as needed.

"What... happened..." the girl croaked, weakly raising her hands to rub at her eyes. The doctor caught one, while the nurse took the other.

"Easy there, Hyuuga-sama," the doctor guided her hand back to the covers. "We don't want you to disturb your bandages."

"Bandages...?" she hardly sounded coherent, but that was only to be expected in her condition. "Is that why...?"

"Is that why what?" the nurse wondered, despite already knowing what the girl would ask.

"...why it's so dark?"

The doctor sighed, glancing at the nurse. "I suggest that you get some more sleep, Hyuuga-sama. You need to recover."

"That's not an answer." Her head was beginning to clear. Hadn't she been on a road? She had been fighting and-- "Hanabi!"

Her abrupt upwards movement was just as abruptly halted and she gave a howl of agony. Her entire body pulsed with pain, and moving so quickly had certainly not been one of her more intelligent moves.

"Hyuuga-sama!" the doctor eased her back onto the bed, and his hands as gentle as he could make them, pain rippled through her where he touched. "You shouldn't do that! You have third degree burns across your entire body! You need to let them heal."

"What... what happened? Hanabi?"

"She was brought in with you, with far fewer injuries. She's back at the compound." the nurse recited, eying her critically. Shinobi, expecially young ones, were notorious for causing themselves even _more_ damage while they attempted to "heal". She really didn't want to be forced to see to this girl again, just because she hadn't been able to "control herself."

But their patient just sunk back into her bed with a sigh. Apparently, the nurse's explanation had been enough to settle her down. After a moment, she turned her head towards where the doctor was hovering. It was rather unnerving when one considered that her eyes were completely hidden.

"When will the bandages come off?" she was all business now. The doctor frowned, but he could not refuse to explain to a patient their own diagnosis when they asked it of him.

"We have to make sure that no infection sets in while your skin and eye sockets heal. Otherwise it would defeat the purpose of healing them. The bandages will have to remain for a minimum of two weeks."

"...while my _eye sockets_ heal?"

"Hyuuga-sama..." the doctor turned away from his patient, considering the ramifications of the battle Konoha had gone through. A great many ninja had been injured, and even killed. Despite that, this girl was the only one who had managed to damage herself using her suicide technique in defense of Konoha. "Hyuuga-sama, whatever it was that you did out there, you completely destroyed your eyes. They looked to have been burnt from the inside out."

* * *

End Chapter

Yay filler episodes!

Nasty place to end it, I know. I like torturing you lot. And yes, I time skipped. I really didn't feel like writing any battle scenes, so I didn't. Bidah.

* * *

**original word count: **1990  
**revision word count: **2450


	28. chapter 28

_But it's not who you are underneath...  
...it's what you do that defines you._

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 3, Chapter 28  
The Itch

* * *

_Mind if I stretch my wings?_

The words weren't spoken as such, but George was still able to understand them. He had yet to realize that Haku had only guessed what he brother had said based on his own responses. Therefore, when he nodded, it took him a moment to realize that Haku was watching him with a raised brow. Fred was well out of hearing range before he could hear his brother's response. The boy turned doll turned bird gave himself over to his form's instincts in order to fly. An animal form would have been utterly useless, after all, without those ingrained instincts to guide the wizard away from danger during an unintentional change. Fred had never thought that he would be one of the few to shirk the legal lines and fall into spontaneous animorphic self-transfiguration.

Then again, he had never thought that an experimental prank would trap him as a doll, and his body would wind up vanishing in the process.

Flying was... pretty cool, actually. Oh sure, he had flown a broom before, but that was _nothing _compared to flying under his own power. He made a note to himself that he needed to become an animagus in truth, completely ignoring his current status as a children's toy. That was onyl a temporary situation, after all.

A temporary situation that had lasted almost two years at this point, but nevertheless it was still temporary. Just like his current form was still only a temporary transformation.

There was one thing in the texts about spontaneous animorphic self-transfiguration that Fred had forgotten. While it was temporary, yes, just like there needed to be a trigger to transform into an animal, there was also a trigger in order to change back into the natural human form. In most cases, that tended to be when the witch or wizard began to worry about being able to change back to normal. In Fred's case, it was the mental ascertain that the transformation was only a temporary state of affairs.

The transformation of a wizard into an animal much smaller relied on shunting the wizard's extra mass into a pocket dimension, while using the rest to form a new body. Normally, that is. Due to Fred's rather unique situation, the elements necessary to create the falcon body had been drained from the fluffy outer body Hermione had crafted for him, as well as the straw doll that had been at it's heart. His magic did the rest; synthesizing the necessary elements from his surroundings.

In other words, Fred had no body to return to when the transformation faded.

As a wizard, his conscious mind had long since been tied to his mana centers and chakra points. As a doll, all of that had been concentrated into a single point in the very center of his soul. At this moment, Fred was little more than a ball of energy with a mind, headed straight for the ground.

Terror rushed through his 'mind' as he realized his predicament. It wasn't so much a conscious act as one of sheer panic that caused him to scream his brother's name along the bond between George and him.

* * *

"FRED!"

George skidded to a stop, wide eyed and frantically searching for his brother-- human, doll, or bird, at this point it really didn't matter. All he wanted to know was that his brother was safe.

Haku landed beside him, the rooftop run not having had any outward effect on him at all. "I don't see him."

"He was _here_," George was positive. This was where he had been when he had sent the panicked message, and yet there was nothing to be found here. Almost literally-- it appeared that the area had been scoured clean by a tremendous force, and the human twin cast his senses along the twin-bond. Relief flooded through him. "He's still alive..."

"But for how long?" given the way that the area looked on, Fred had to have let his lightning go, and he wouldn't have done that for just anything.

"What?"

"It looks like he may have been taken captive," Haku knelt at the center of the blast crater. "I would assume that this was his last stand..."

"Why would someone want a falcon?" George was positive that no one would have been able to tell that Fred was sentient.

"They likely saw him with us," Haku frowned. "I would imagine that there are a few people that realize that we're the students of a missing-nin, and would likely be displeased with our presence in Konoha."

"What do we do?" he seemed so lost, knowing that his brother was live but not able to find him.

"We need to get Yaone. Then we can teach whoever the hell it was that they _do not_ mess with the students of Momochi Zabuza."

"To the hospital?"

"To the hospital."

* * *

They hadn't been able to get in the front door. The same nurse that had kicked them out originally was still on duty and had forbidden them entrance. Unfortunately for her, they weren't ninja for nothing, and they simply proceeded to walk up the wall and peered in windows until they found the right room. All it took was a simple alohomora from George and they'd slipped in with no one the wiser.

Haky frowned as they came up alongside her bed. Oddly enough, she was still wearing her cloak, while her blankets had been pulled up to her chin. Bandages covered her face from the nose up, and it struck him with a bit of humor that it was like looking at an inverted Zabuza-san.

"Yaone?"

She jerked around with a start, her covered eyes staring into the darkness. "H-Haku?"

"Yaone!" George came up on her other side, grabbing her shoulder. "We've gotta get you outta here. Somethi--"

"I'm not leaving," she interrupted, moving stiffly to take his hand from her shoulder, and the Weasley frowned, tightening his grip momentarily.

"Yaone, Sen is--"

"I don't care what happened to him!" she snapped, her voice breaking as she continued. "I'm blind, you idiot! I can't do anything!"

"B...blind?" George squeaked. When they had found her, she had been slumped over with her hands clutching at her face despite unconsciousness. Had her attackers...?

"My bloodline and my chakra had a... disagreement, if you will." Her words were harsh and bitter, twisting with the helplessness that had filled her from the moment she had been told.

"What do you mean?"

Haku was letting George ask all of the questions. He already had his own suspicions as to what had happened to her, but he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about his probably part in causing it.

"The doctor... the doctor said that my chakra had burnt my eyes out." She turned away from him and unknowingly turned to Haky. It was a stab to his conscious; he had helped to do this to her. He had helped to blind her... his friend... he felt sick.

"Wha... how...?" George didn't know what to think. Could bloodlines run rampantly out of control like this?

"She's not a Hyuuga."

"Huh?" both Hermione and George turned their attention to the mist ninja. "But...?"

"We were... experimenting," Haku admitted, staring down at his hands instead of up at his teammates. "Zabuza-san and I... we thought that we understood bloodline limits. We were positive that he had all the variables identified, and we set about proving that we were capable of engineering a bloodline."

"Why?" Hermione definitely did _not _appreciate finding out that she was little more than a pet project for Zabuza and Haku. George's hand on her shoulder stalled the fount of acidic words that were on the very tip of her tongue, and she turned her head to glare up at him. But as it would forever onward, only blackness greeted her.

He squeezed her shoulder in comfort.

Haku smiled a sad little smile. "Imagine it. Your own Hyuuga or Uchiha... with no ties to Konoha, and grateful to you for giving them this amazing gift. Zabuza-san needs all the follower that he can get. If you could _create_ a bloodline..."

George nodded, a little off balance from this latest turn in life, but far less so than he would have been without Haku's confession the day prior. "So what went wrong? Why did Yaone's bloodline hurt her?"

"We must have missed a variable," was Haku's conclusion. "I'm not sure what it is, but it must be biological. Something internal didn't agree with how we rearranged Yaone's chakra."

"Something... internal? Are you sure?"

"Not something physically internal, but maybe... metaphysically." Haku shook his head. "But for the life of me, I just can't figure it out."

"Haku?" a thought had struck her as he trailed off into thought, and it just seemed to simple, so easy to miss...

"Hmm?"

"_Why_ did you start your bloodline training with ice?"

Haku opened his mouth to answer, before pausing in consideration. They had chosen him to train as a master of ice, for a very simple reason. "...because I already knew that I was capable of using it."

"Exactly!" the girl of their group smiled smugly at where she thought Haku to be. "You had an aptitude for it. So it's possible that certain bloodlines work only so long as the person in question had the basic ability for it."

"Like magical inheritance," George mused. Haku blinked at him.

"Magical inheritance? Isn't that when the family's magical knowledge is passed on to the first born son?" true, he didn't really know all that much about the magical world, as most of his life had been spent as a shinobi, and Zabuza had cut all ties with it until their sojourn to Hogwarts.

George was shaking his head. "That's only a part of it. Everything goes to the eldest male, including a bit of elemental magic. It's how the family heads are decided, _and_ why wizards are so exclusive with their wives. If the eldest male is born from an affair, they'll _still _become family head, as the elemtnal magic would go to him."

"Wow..." Hermione tipped her head to one side, considering. "Does that mean that--"

"Yup," George grinned widely. "The Weasley element is lightning, and it's safe to assume that the Potter element is ice."

"But how would that relate to Yaone's situation?" the shinobi was finding this rather intriguing, all told, however it wasn't helping all that much where it mattered. Not only did they need to know this for Hermione's sake, but also for what they would tell Zabuza-san. Haku was definitely not looking forwards to having to explain Hermione's new disability atop of the seal that was binding his own bloodline.

"Well... every line has to start from somewhere, right? And as a ninja, bloodlines aren't specifically patrilineal," the girl in question mused, "In fact, unlike Wizards, they seem to allow anyone in the clan to use the inborn elements."

"Perhaps it has to do with the environment," Haku was thinking out loud. "Wizards aren't in a constant state of flux. For the most part, they seem to be peaceful people."

"While ninja are always fighting." George continued, his eyes alight. "With each other, on missions, at war... it's always a case of life and death for th-- us. That could be why Fred can use the family element when he's definitely not the eldest."

Hermione was also getting into it. "So fighting would be like a stimulant, causing the magic to ricochet through the line. Maybe because it can't tell which member of the family will survive to heave offspring?"

Haku frowned. "That would imply that magic is sentient."

"It is."

Hermione blinked as she heard one "oh hell..." and one very startled in-take of breath. Now, there weren't all that many reasons for Haku to curse, and considering that the gasp was a heartbeat after the words...

"Sen?"

"Hey there, Yaone." the no longer birdified twin grinned rakishly at her from the windowsill he had parked himself on. That she couldn't see him didn't really matter to him. "What do you think?"

He pushed himself off of the sill and did a goofy little ballet pirouette-- complete with a pink tutu. When he finally spun to a stop, he was standing beside his brother and the tutu had vanished.

"Did you...? Are you...?" George was afraid to even touch his brother, fearing that it was only a bushin and it would disappear into smoke if he did. Never mind that it usually took a good solid blow to dispel a clone.

"Nope." Fred shrugged. "It would have been nice to be me again, but I'm not. Closer, but... not quite."

"Closer?" his brother stared at him, analyzing the other seventeen year old. Fred sighed, and without prompting dropped his henge.

Hermione was once again left out of the cursing, which was really beginning to irritate her. "What _is_ it?"

"A... a..." George couldn't think, let alone speak. He was simply too bug-eyed and gaping, just trying to process what he was seeing. Haku was a little more concise as he licked his lips. "...a corpse..."

* * *

End Chapter

Hah.

* * *

**original word count: **2206  
**revision word count:** 2207

(lol.)


	29. chapter 29

Two years now. Wow.

Happy Anniversary, For Your Dream.

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 3, Chapter 29  
The Itch

* * *

They were staring at him. While normally he took great enjoyment in it, these particular stares were of the "supremely unnerving" variety. With a quick hand gesture that he had never actually learned—he'd seen Haku use it enough times that he felt confident in it's use, however—and an awkward twist of his mana, he was once again wearing his own face. The genjutsu would more than likely fail before any of the Konoha shinobi, but he was hoping to pick Hermione's brain for a glamour spell that they wouldn't be able to see through.

"That is… going to take some getting used to," George muttered, looking rather sick. Fred couldn't blame him for it, as if the situation had been reversed, if it was his brother who had been sealed into a dead man's body, he wasn't too sure that he would be very comfortable with it, either. Hell he wasn't all that comfortable with being in a dead body himself. It just sent a chill down his spine at the thought—not to mention that it had to have been among the recently deceased, considering that he couldn't feel any decay.

Come to think of it, that was pretty damn disturbing. He was just was to connect to this body, if he was able to tell if it was decaying or not. And yet… yet he was still separate from the body. Confusing was a good word for the situation, but Fred was more than happy to settle for 'disgusting'.

He closed his eyes. "I… haven't been able to work up the nerve to look. Is it someone that we knew?"

Causalities were simply a part of war, but he didn't know if he would be able to stand it if it had once been a friend. A comrade-in-arms was bad enough.

"No," Haku finally tore his gaze away from the genjutsu hidden corpse. "It's no one that I am familiar with."

George nodded slowly. "Can't say I recognized the face, Forge."

While he didn't know if Haku was lying to him, his brother had never been able to convincingly lie to him. George's face was an open book to him, and right now that book was open honesty. Fred gave a sigh of relief. "Good to know, Gred. Good to know. Now, what was this about the sentiency of magic?"

Hermione turned in the direction of his voice. "We were attempting to figure out which variable it was that Haku and Mister Zabuza had missed in their calculations."

"Calculations of…?"

"How to create a bloodline limit." George offered, seating himself at the foot of Hermione's bed and contemplating his brother's situation more than that of their teammate.

At Fred's curious glance, Haku shrugged uncomfortably. "We decide to see if we could take a wizard and essentially craft them a bloodline. We were positive that we had identified all of the variables involved, and that the worst that could happen was that the bloodline would fail."

"Instead," Hermione broke in, her mind whirling with possibilities as they got back to her new found disability. "When my… elemental magic?" a questioning tip of the head brought a sound of agreement from George and so she continued. "My elemental magic manifested, and it created enough of a stir in my chakra to cause a negative feedback."

"And that means…?" Fred was far from stupid, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"Meaning that when I attempted to restrain it, I used the method that Haku and Mister Zabuza taught me. The unsettled mana-chakra mix didn't want to be restrained and then… escaped, through the only available openings."

Fred stared at her bandages in dawning horror. "Then… then you're…?"

"Blind." she confirmed. "According to the doctors, I don't even have the remnants of my eyes left. It went so far as burning out the optic nerves."

Haku winced. That meant that even a ninja transplant or magical construct wouldn't be able to restore her sight to her; there was absolutely nothing that either of their worlds was able to do for her, and he sincerely doubted that the muggle world would have a solution, either. She was well and truly hooped.

And it was _his_ fault.

The ice manipulator hung his head. He hated this feeling of guilt that burned in his gut. Ever since the accidental deaths of his relatives, he had been driven to do anything within his power to avoid ever having to feel it ever again. He had become Zabuza-san's weapon as best as he was able to, and he had attempted to distance himself from feeling regret and guilt for their actions. Weapons did not—could not!—feel, and that was that. However… these people… his teammates, his friends... he had done so much to them. He had for all intents and purposes destroyed their lives to the point where the only thing that he could do to make it worse now would have been to kill them.

He didn't want to do that, although he knew he would if it came down to it. At this point, however, he was beginning to believe that even without his help in that regard, his friends were going to get themselves killed. He would not allow that to happen.

There was only one solution that he could see, and while he certainly did not want to use it, in the end it would only ensure that all parties involved would come out for the best.

"I…" he licked his lips. "Hermione, forgive me. I can understand it if you would prefer to have nothing to do with me for causing your disability. When time realigns I will return you and the twins to Hogwarts. You will not have to deal with me again after that." It was delivered all in one explosive breath, before he could even give his decision a second thought. By the time that the others had been able to decipher the rapid ramble of words, he was gone.

"Did he just…" Hermione wondered, straining her ears to hear the hunter-nin.

"...leave?" George continued dumbly, staring at his brother. Fred nodded slowly, still trying to work his way through the explanation and figure out what had caused his abrupt departure.

"He apologized… and then took off."

"Coward!" Hermione spat, lurching off of her bed in order to go after him. Her eyes may have been burnt away, but her ability to sense heat certainly hadn't been damaged. Differing levels of heat in her surroundings helped her to navigate, but that didn't stop her from slamming into several objects—including Fred.

"Hermione!" the boys shouted, Fred trying to hold her back as he righted her, but she just shook off their hands, and the lingering pain from her burns.

"I made a _promise_!" she turned to face the pair and despite the bandages and lack of eyes, they got the impression that she was glaring at them. "I promised to be a better ninja! He's not going to take that chance away from me, just because of a stupid mistake that _I_ made!"

The boys shared a look, and then Fred rolled his eyes. "While we're very happy that you're finally embracing your inner ninja—"

"—you might want to reconsider chasing after him in your skivvies!" George grinned widely as Hermione flushed. Realization that she was wearing only a paper hospital gown under her cloak washed over her and she whirled around.

"Fred! George!"

"We didn't—"

"—do anything!"

"You were--"

"—like that when—"

"—we arrived!" the pair finished in unison, still grinning at the fuming kunoichi. They still had the feeling that she was glaring, but now it was easier to ignore.

"That's not what I meant!" how one could growl and screech at the same time, no one really knew. However it was done, Hermione had managed it. "I don't have my wand. I need clothing. You two have wands. Do the math." It was said with the with the calmness of a woman about to go over the edge.

Sharing yet another glance with his brother, George shrugged. "Well, transfiguring clothing from something that someone is wearing can be quite difficult."

"Luckily for you," Fred picked up where his brother had left off, "We are two masterful masters of transfiguration!"

Hermione's eyebrow was twitching beneath her bandages. She had much preferred it when Fred had been a mopey little doll. The two of them seemed to be getting back into their old annoying stride now that he was technically human again. "Just get on with it!"

"As the lady commands!"

"Ba-da-bing!"

"Ba-da-bang!"

"Ba-da-BOOM!" two wands were flicked, and Hermione paper dress and eye wrappings were replaced with a sand-colored jumper over a black shirt. The boys winced at seeing the scarred eye socked, and George reached out to gently tug her hitae-ate down over her eyes.

"Ba-da-boom?" Hermione repeated, readjusting the new position of her head-protector, "Where on earth did you come up with _that_?"

"Oh, it was just some muggle commieshal on a telly in London." Fred shrugged. "Dad took us to see them."

Hermione just shook her head with an amused sigh. She really should just stop trying to figure out the Weasleys. Besides, she had a much more tempting target to vent at. The nerve of that boy! Just taking off after unloading something like that? She really should smack the ice manipulator a good one, maybe it would knock some sense into his head. She had only _just_ managed to overcome her unconscious prejudice and now he wanted her to just drop being a ninja and go back to being a simple witch?

She hadn't had this much fun in ages! A little set back like blindness wouldn't stop her when she really wanted something. Besides, weren't all those old masters in the cinema blind anyways? Really, she was just taking that step a little sooner than most.

With her rationalizations firmly in place, she turned and pointed in the direction that she could sense a large stationary body of heat. "You can carry me."

"Carry you?" George was more than a little unnerved that she had been able to point directly at him.

"Yes, carry me. I'm not going to be able to climb out the window and give chase all by myself. Honestly!"

Fred snickered. "She's got you there, brother-mine."

"Why can't _he_ carry you?"

"Because he is currently dead and the lack of heat would be disturbing." She was speaking matter-of-factly. Despite the somewhat insulted feeling he got from her words, Fred still seemed to find this funny, and howled with laughter as his brother made faces at their newly blind teammate.

"George, cut it out," she snapped and he froze.

"Wait, you could…?"

"No," she grinned cheekily. "However, you just confirmed that you were mocking me."

This only served to make Fred laugh all that much harder.

* * *

Several rooms away and quite a bit less merry, Haku stood quietly behind Sakura as he waited for her to finish her "rounds". Despite the fact that she very distinctly refused to consider herself a medical ninja, she certainly had a talent for it. In a way, it was a pity that she was so determined to catch up with her teammates in terms of sheer brutal strength. He would try to see that she got some training in medical techniques.

After all, sometimes a good field surgeon was the difference between life and death when one's teammates were hard-headed obnoxious never-give-up style morons. Though he meant that in the nicest of ways; he liked Naruto. That would have been the kind of boy he liked to imagine himself becoming if he had never killed the Dursleys.

That guilt was a hard cross to bare, though it had lessened some in the long years that had followed.

Sakura bid her friend a farewell, and the two ninja stepped out of the room. They walked in companionable silence until they were just outside of the cafeteria—that was when Sakura couldn't take it any longer. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"Wrong?"

"You don't seek me out because you're _bored_, Haku. You have Ito for that!" when Haku flinched and refused to meet her gaze, she groaned. "Oh geez… what did you do?"

"Do?" Haku parroted, raising a brow in question. For a moment he wished that he had remembered to grab his mask. "What makes you think that I've done anything?"

"Ominous silence for one. The attempts at innocence, the obvious denial…" she ticked them off on her fingers. "You're distracted. So what happened between you and Ito?"

"…how much do you know of Yaone's condition?"

Sakura blinked. "Only that she was injured while defending Hyuuga Hanabi."

"There were… complications," Haku hesitated, staring out into space. "Once she is… well, I will be returning my teammates to their homes."

"You intend to block them out!" Sakura's fingers dug into her hips, and she scowled at the other ninja. "That's not healthy, Haku. People need friends—more importantly _you_ need friends!"

"The complications are _my fault_," Haku all but snarled, his eyes narrowed into slits. "I refuse to put my friends in any more danger from my _antics_!"

Sakura gaped at him for a good minute, having never before experienced Haku's self-directed rage. He had been vindictive and manipulative while she had been around, but he had never lashed out like this before. When she took a nervous step backwards, it was as though she had flipped a switch.

The rage drained from his body, and his shoulders slumped, his eyes falling to his feet. "I would rather not talk about that, Sakura-san."

"I…" she licked her lips, and managed to get her racing heart back under control before starting again. "I understand. What did you seek me out for?"

"I wanted to discuss seals. More specifically, I would like to discuss yours."

Sakura's hand slipped to the long scars on her shoulder, more than a little startled. "I don't—"

"Sakura-san," he interrupted, bringing his gaze up to meet hers with an intense stare. "What ever is said between us will remain between us. In this case, I promise that I will not divulge any information to Zabuza-san."

She paused in consideration, sensing the seriousness of his sow. In the month that they had trained together, she had learned that Zabuza was practically his god. He did _everything_ for his 'Zabuza-san'. The missing ninja was his reason for living, and to promise that he would keep something from the man was a tremendously important show of trust. She closed her eyes.

"Then I promise that whatever you tell me will remain a secret. No one, not even the… the next Hokage… will be told."

Haku held out his arm, and Sakura stared at it for a moment. Then she clasped his wrist, and held on tightly.

* * *

End chapter

Anticlimactic, I know. As with last year, a second chapter _will_ be posted today, but not until after I get home from work. You've got eight hours to speculate And to write omake to be added to the end of chapter 30. Ever thought about a different scene or a different ending to something I've written? How about something completely out there, but involving the Hogwarts Ninja?

This is your chance! Either write and post it to the Itchfanfic group on yahoo, or in your review. All FYD omake will be added to the end of Chapter 30.

And as an example... an omake written by my long time friend/life-threatening sociopath, Stratagemini.

* * *

Orochimaru was... surprised. It wasn't often you met someone as snakelike as yourself. The man had horrible fashion sense, but at least he had the whole cheating death idea down pat. As this... Voldemort rambled on about how he wanted to kill Harry Potter, Orochimaru began to laugh. Yes... It seemed this years Evil Archfiends Trying to Cheat Death Symposum (EAT CDS for short) was going to be much more entertaining than last year's.

* * *

**original word count: **2151  
**revision word count: **2494


	30. chapter 30

It's totally still the 29th. In my grandparents' time zone, at least.

And I had this chapter finished while it was still the 29th in my time zone. The lack of submitted omake/drabbles made me have to think. Boo.

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 3, Chapter 30  
The Itch

* * *

"A split seal?"

Haku nodded and began to trace an invisible pattern into the air above of them. The pair had relocated from the hospital to the top of one of the large grassy hills on the Nara estate. While they weren't technically supposed to be there, Shikamaru had only rolled his eyes when he'd found them laying there an hour earlier.

While most of the conversation so far had been the specifics about how Sakura had wound up with her seal in the first place, a portion of it had been devoted to how the seal had interacted with "Inner Sakura". That, in itself, had been a most enlightening conversation.

"You're going to have to give me more than that if you actually want me to understand what you're talking about," she returned dryly. "Some of us are still genin, after all."

"You're not daft," Haku's amusement was nearly tangible. "What happens when you only perform half of a seal?"

"Nothing," Sakura shook her head with a small frown. "There are just too many possible combinations that half of a hand seal could make. And what does that have to do with my seal? It's obvious that it works."

"Think about it," Haku foled his hands behind his head once more. "Your entire body is acting as half of a seal—as one hand, if you would."

Her eyes widened in shocked understanding. "That means that Sasuke is the other hand!"

"Exactly," Haku smiled a gentle smile. "Being near each other is alright; after all, most humans have two hands that are part of a single body. It's when either of you charge your chakra in some form that things begin to get… interesting."

The kunoichi swore, and rather prolifically at that.

"And Sasuke and I are teammates," she moaned once she had calmed down enough. "Even if all we did together was basic training, it could still set us off."

The mist-nin nodded. "Unfortunately. So… what is it that you plan to do? If you intend to keep your part of the seal a secret, the only option I can see right now is to resign from Team Seven."

Sakura winced. Leaving Team Seven essentially meant that she would be abandoning her duties as a genin, not to mention her duties to her team. On the other hand, remaining with Sasuke and Naruto while she was like this would compromise her ability to ever reach chuunin, let alone jounin. "I… I don't know, Haku-san."

"This isn't something that you can take lightly, Sakura-san."

"Don't you think I _know_ that?" she flushed as she realized that she had just snapped at someone who was only trying to help her. Someone who, in all honesty, had absolutely no reason to help her but for the goodness in his heart. "I'm sorry, Haku-san. It's just… just…"

She signed heavily, pushing herself up from her sprawl so that she could stare morosely down at her hands. "I just don't want to leave Sasuke. He's my special person…" she smirked a bit at that. "Like Zabuza-san is to you, I'd wager."

Haku raised an enquiring eyebrow. "You would die for him?"

"I would live for him. Kill for him. Take on all of his guilts, fears, and nightmares… if only he would let me." She closed her eyes, fighting back useless tears. "Oh who am I kidding? To Sasuke, I'm nothing but a bothersome girl who somehow wound up on his team. He never even spars with me, let alone lets me into his life. And yet I…"

As she trailed off into her own thoughts, Haku watched her with a considering stare. For a time, her thoughts twisted and turned over everything that Uchiha Sasuke meant to her, and how little she obviously meant to him. She just couldn't let go of her insecurities and wondered if Haku thought her weak for her heart-filled declaration.

She shouldn't have worried about that. After all, Haku had pledged his life, his very existence to Zabuza-san long before Zabuza-san had begun to acknowledge him as anything more than his weapon. He understood all to well the insecurities and worry that accompanied her position in Sasuke's life.

Unlike Sakura, he knew that Zabuza-san cared for him. They had been through so much together for it to be any other way. Sasuke, on the other hand, was hard pressed to even acknowledge her presence most of the time.

While both of them were lost in their thoughts, it was Haku who came to a decision that could very likely change everything between them. With Hermione, George, and Fred soon to be removed from his life, he was beginning to feel bereft. Cutting them off now, instead of later would cause for a much cleaner break when the time came. Those three had each other to lean on, while he had no such luxury. Or had not had; if she would but agree then there was a possibility of it.

"You could always come with us."

Sakura blinked, startled out of her own depressing self-reflection by his quiet determination. "What?"

"In an official capacity, of course," he was quick to clarify. Having her become a missing ninja would be far more trouble than it was worth in the end. "Zabuza-san and I will be returning Yaone and Ito to their homeland. With Konoha's blessing, we could bring you with us in order to make contact with their world. It would also give you a chance to train where you won't set Sasuke-kun off."

Sakura stared at him with an unreadable expression for long enough that he would have begun figetting had he been anyone else. Then she smiled. It was small and reserved, but thankful. "I'll think about it. Thanks, Haku."

* * *

"Why the bloody hell is he so good at hiding?!"

The three of them had been searching for almost two hours by that point, and hadn't found any sign of the crippled ice manipulator. They were getting no where fast, and it was starting to aggravate the blind ninja. Clinging to George's back the entire time left her with little more to do than working on the blistering lecture she intended to give their erstwhile teammate, and now there was nowhere to aim her head of steam.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Come on, Yaone! He's been a missing-nin for _how_ many years now? If he couldn't hide he'd be dead by now!"

"Fred!" both his brother and his friend hissed, though only George could see him to flare at. Hermione merely glared at the back of George's head.

"Ixnay on the issingmay-innay!" she snapped, slurring pig-latin and Japanese into a completely incomprehensible and awkward sentence. Still, her meaning came across, and Fred shook his head.

"Guys, the Konoha Council has to know by now." It was a logical assumption. With the failed invasion, and the Hokage's death on top of that, the ruling council of Konoha would more than likely have gone over all of the events during and up to the Exam. If they hadn't been able to discover that Haku was a missing-nin under the command of the Demon of the Mist, and that his teammates didn't even have the basic academy training of every other entrant, let alone the experience needed to get into the Chuunin Exam…

Well. If they _hadn't_ managed to figure it all out, the Fred didn't have a hope in hell for Konoha. After all, look at what had happened in the Wizarding World following You-Know-Who.

That thought brought Fred to a rather abrupt stop, and causing him to stuff his landing on the next roof. With a shout, the seventeen year old went crashing to the ground, and for a moment he lost his grip on his illusion, and dark hair flopped into his eyes. Even as Geroge dropped to the ground beside him, the younger twin had quickly re-raised the simple chakra-induced glamour.

"Fred! What happened?" Hermione may not have been able to see his crash, but she had certainly _heard_ it. And when George had whipped around as quickly as he had, she knew that it had to be the other twin.

"You okay, bro?" George stuck out his hadn and hauled his brother back onto his feet. Fred shook his head, his illusion just as pale as the corpse he inhabited.

"Guys…" Fred switched back into their native language, determined not ot be misunderstood, "What's happening back at Hogwarts?"

Hermione frowned, "Did you hit your head in your crash? Tsunade isn't Godaime yet, so what's 'going on' is our own past."

"No, not that!" Fred took an unneeded breath, trying to calm himself down, his thoughts flying a mile a minute. "Okay, so we know that home is messed up. I mean, third year, a troll almost kills you—"

"That was my first year."

"—and fourth year our sister nearly gets eaten by a basilisk. Then Sirius Black vanishes right out from under the Ministry's eyes, and the Dark Mark at the World Cup and the Longbottom murders follow. But despite all of that being pretty big news… you don't really hear about it. The Ministry tried to cover it all up."

George frowned. "Then you think—"

"—that Professor Dumbledore was right?" Hermione didn't even noticed that she had finished George's sentence. For that matter, neither did the Twins.

Fred nodded. "It makes sense, right? You-Know-Who came back from the dead."

"That's impossible!" Hermione squawked. "There are no known resurrection spells!"

"Hermione," Fred's voice was dry. "I'm a teenager turned into a magical construct currently inhabiting a corpse. You-Know-Who knowing how to body hop really doesn't seem like that much of a stretch anymore."

"…damn," she hung her head. Fred was right, it seemed perfectly possible when she thought of it that way.

"Why are you bringing this up now?" George wondered, eyeing his brother with some confusion.

"You asked," the other twin shrugged.

"That's not an answer," Hermione trilled, and Fred stuck his tongue out at her.

"You-Know-Who is on the loose back home. What's to stop him from coming after us, or our families when he finds out that we're ninja?"

Hermione shook her head. "How would he possibly find out?"

"Scarecrow."

"Scarecrow?" George and Hermione were confused for a moment, then comprehension dawned. "You think that—"

"—Scarecrow is an animagus?"

"I think that Scarecrow is Sirius Black," Fred was nodding to himself, "Right now, we've got more important things to think about than Haku being a prat."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Hermione really wanted to know how she missed it.

"Hermione, I know that know that you really want to kick Haku's ass but—"

"That's not what I meant!" she snapped, and despite her hitae-ate hiding her blindness, she was very obviously glaring in his general direction. It was rather creepy. "I _meant_ how do you figure that Scarecrow is Black?"

"All it took was a little bit of detective work, m'dear," he was grinning again, "I'm sure that if you had been so inclined—"

"Fred, get on with it." She was beginning to get very tired of his antics, and it really didn't help that she still wasn't fully 'all there'from the drugs that she had been put on.

"Alright, alright, you want to know, I get it. Well, first, that dog is just too bloody smart. Secondly, he's unnervingly interested in Haku, and third—did you _see_ the way that Professor Lupin spazzed when he saw us vanish? Then Tsunade-sama called him Sirius, and I _know_ you two didn't miss that one. Not to mention that Kakashi calls him Sirius. Even _Sakura_ calls him Sirius."

"What overwhelming evidence!"

"I know, it's amazing isn't it?"

"I am shocked and amazed!"

"Are you my dearest brother?"

"Why yes, I am! Certainly, we should have been able to—"

"If you two don't shut the hell up," Hermione growled, "I am going to flay the flesh from your bones and bar-be-que it. Do you understand me?"

"Ah! I do believe that the lady—"

"—doth protest too much!" George grinned, bouncing the girl on his back a little high. She shrieked and dug her fingers into his shoulders in response. "Ow!"

"Serves you right," she grumbled, steadying herself again. "So…"

"So?"

"Yeeeeees?"

"Now what? Do we keep hunting for Haku or should we track down Scarecrow?"

"Scarecrow," the twins responded immediately. "Finding Kakashi has to be easier than finding Haku, right?"

* * *

End Chapter

Hey look. We're getting to that promised in-story explanation of the whys and hows Sirius wound up a nindog. Aren't you all excited!

And because no one was able to think up an Omake in the eleven hours since the last chapter went up, I grant you one of my crazy omake-thoughts. Just, uh, don't ask. Please. Don't ask.

* * *

They stared at each other, considering the oddity they had been presented with. In many ways they were similar-- intense green eyes that were almost like looking in a mirror. Effeminate in looks, they had matching narrow faces, long eyelashes, and smooth complexion. They were both slim, built more for speed than for strength, though few would deny that they were strong.

They both normally wore hitae-ate, though one wore it in their hair and the other on their forehead. For the time being the hitae-ate were removed, and two matching, lightning bolt scars graced their foreheads.

It was there that the similarities ended. One's hair was light and short, the other's dark and long. One wore grey and green, the other white and red. One was male, one was female.

She eyed him speculatively, "I thought you were supposed to be dead, Haku."

"It was exaggerated. Though I must wonder how you came to be female."

"Choice," she shrugged, "I can be male if I want to be. See?" and in the blink of an eye, the girl became a boy. Haku raised an eyebrow.

"Your hair is still pink."

"Is it?" he grabbed a handful of it and pulled it in front of his eyes. It faded to black, "Not anymore!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you're wearing a dress, Sakura-san."

Sakura snorted, shifting back into her much more comfortable female form, "Well _excuse_ me. My Bloodline Limit is shape-shifting, not clothing shifting."

"I would assume a genjutsu would cover that one," he returned dryly. She stuck her tongue out, before looking around. They'd both only just awoke from their unscheduled naps to find themselves in matching cells.

"So where are we?"

It was another voice that broke in, and they were treated to yet another version of their face-- this one framed by spiky white hair, "A nexus point, I would assume. Some common enemy has seen fit to imprison many different versions of us here. The baseline Harry Potter is here as well."

"And what Harry are you? I'm not familiar with any ninjas who wear such robes," Haku eyed the black kimono and hakama speculatively. Really, it looked more like something a samurai would wear.

"I am not a ninja," he scowled in their direction, "I am Hitsugaya Toushiro, Captain of the Tenth Division."

* * *

End omake. Because I said so. Nyah.

If any of you want to submit omake, I'll be happy to tack them on to any of the upcoming chapters. Yay.

* * *

**original word count: **1709**  
revision word count:** 2090


	31. chapter 31

"He was very manly. Very cute. Magnum-sized!"

* * *

**For Your Dream**  
Volume 3, Chapter 31  
The Itch

* * *

Surprisingly enough, it actually _was_ easier to find a former ANBU Jounin instructor than it was to find their teammate. This may have had something to do with the fact that after a frustrating hour of fruitless searching, the jounin in question had just so happened to cross the street barely twenty feet in front of them, his nose buried in a certain orange book.

Hermione, who had been something of a backseat driver for the entire time despite her inability to see where she was directing boys, let out a shriek of surprise when George abruptly turned and started running. She clung to him, burying her face in his back as she yelped "Warn me before you do that!"

George just laughed as he and his brother skidded to a stop on either side of the Copy Ninja. One sleepy eye gave him a vaguely curious stare, his attention split between the trio and his book. The Weasley Twins flashed him identical grins.

"Good day, good sir!"

"How might you be on this fair day?"

"Do I know you?" the leaf-nin eyed their mist headbands, wondering just what exactly they were still doing in Konoha. The blindfolded kunoichi clinging to the back of one of the boys was also a cause for some staring, though he chose not to.

"Us?"

"No, no, not us."

"But you do know the Boss!"

"He's not why we're here, though."

The boy on his left seemed about ready to start another ping pong match, but the girl on his back slapped him upside the head. When she turned her head towards the Konoha Jounin, she spoke with the air of the Lord of the Fire Country when he was making one of his so-called 'Imperial Edicts'. "We're the teammates of Haku, and we have a request."

Kakashi's eye didn't widen. In fact, he didn't make any outward sign of interest, despite the fact that the first part of her sentence had brought his immediate attention. "Haku's teammates?"

"Haku." The girl frowned in his general direction. "Surely Sakura-chan—"

"—Or Naruto!" Fred cheerfully cut in, followed by George's equally please: "Hey, even Sasuke could have mentioned it."

"—had informed you of his survival." The girl continued on as though her companions hadn't just interrupted her. "Haku's miraculous recovery aside, we need you to summon one of your nin dogs."

Kakashi frowned slightly, though with the mask in the way the most that showed was the little crease between his eyebrows. "We're from different villages."

"Oh, we don't want to try and catalogue your dogs or anything!" the boy on the right smiled cheerfully, thought to Kakashi's well trained eye, it was a split second slower than his words. Either a general genjutsu or possibly a poor henge?

"We just want to talk to one of them." His twin continued.

Kakashi considered the request, and the trio themselves for a moment, before tipping his head in a sleepy nod. "Only if you drop the illusions."

He couldn't be certain that all three members of the cell were hiding beneath an illusion, but where on team member did, the others usually followed suit. Besides, he had technically been ordered to find these kids and keep an eye on them. Since they were "friends" of his team, Konoha's ruling council had felt that it wouldn't tip them off to the fact that they were being watched. After all, it wouldn't be entirely suspicious for an instructor to be watching another village's ninja when they got close to their own.

Never mind the fact that Kakashi hadn't really done anything towards that task since he had been assigned it at the end of the Second Exam. Their Hyuuga shadow was certainly a good enough spy for that task, in his opinion.

The boy on his right gave a pained grimace, but whatever they wanted to talk to his dogs about must have been important, as he sighed and nodded his agreement. "Alright, that shouldn't be a problem. Could we do it… somewhere else, though? I don't want to… scare anyone."

Scare? Curious as he was, Kakashi was willing enough to let the question go unanswered for a few minutes. A ninja was required to know patience after all, in order for the target or the opportunity to come to him. Waiting for a barely trained group of children to feel more comfortable in releasing their secrets wasn't exactly a hardship.

Really, it was just too bad that his own team sucked at patience. He had tried and tried to teach them…

The leaf-nin wasn't all too surprised when they returned to the barracks that were used for foreign ninja when they had official business in Konohakagure. Either these kids really were foreign ninja, or they were damn good at emulating them.

One thing was definitely for sure, these three wouldn't be able to take him down, especially if he had the summoned nin-dogs that they wanted. Oh, there was the possibility that they would use the moment of summoning to try and kill him—but he sincerely doubted that these three brats had the speed to do it. They also didn't have the look about them that opportunity kills had. In fact, there was very little about the three of them that even implied that they were ninja at all.

Sequestered in a small room, Kakashi made a note of the clay mask on the dresser with some surprise. It wasn't that he hadn't believed them about Haku's continued survival—not only had both Naruto and Sakura informed him, but the Konoha Council had made him aware of it almost immediately after their discovery—it was that the mask looked to be a perfect replica of the one that Haku had worn on the bridge all those weeks earlier. He could have sworn that it had been broken, but this one didn't have the splintering cracks that a mask glued back together should have. Instead, there were just five marks scored into the clay.

"You swear that you'll call the dogs out?" the illusioned teenager glared at him. The jounin was positive that this was the very first time that he had ever had someone request for him to summon them that _wasn't_ the evaluators when he first signed the contract.

"On my honour," not that a professional assassin had very much honour to promise on, but that was a mere technicality.

"Alright," the boy sighed, and with the traditional puff of smoke, the henge vanished.

"What the—" Kakashi bit back the curse, dropping immediately into a fighting stance. It was impossible! This… this thing couldn't be him!

Fury made his muscles tense, and in the moments he took to breath in and calm his racing heart, he realised something very important. The body in front of him had stumbled back in shock from his unconscious chakra burst. Not only that, but the other boy had also fallen back, startled and no little frightened.

The blindfolded girl had fallen right off of the boy's back and was gingerly feeling about in order to get her bearings back.

"You…" George licked his suddenly dry lips, his eyes wide with panic. This was a jounin! They weren't even Academy-level, and they had just pissed off a jounin! Oh man, what were they even _thinking_ in going to this guy to get their answers? "You obviously recognise Sen's new body."

_New body?_ Kakashi didn't feel like dwelling on that uncomfortable thought, and instead gave them a glare of disdain. Both boys took a nervous step back at the sight, glancing between each other before back to him. "I said to _drop_ the illusion, not switch them!"

"I _did_ drop it!" the abomination snapped back, his clothing beginning to move as he unconsciously gathered the necessary energy for his bloodline. "I didn't ask to land in this body! It just happened!"

"Sen, calm down!" the girl shouted, but the blond ignored her. Kakashi didn't feel much like following her commands, either. This was disgusting and outrageous! How dare this child wear the face of a deceased comrade!

The jounin was about to launch an attack when two voices cut through the tension.

"What in _god's_ name—!" the icy hiss was male, and somehow not drowned out by the female shriek of "Oh. My. GOD."

Startled, the angry ninja turned to glare at the intruders. Haku, with Sakura in tow, had returned to his quarters in order to retrieve his bags. He hadn't wanted to get too involved with his teammates now that he had decide to break it off with them—thus he had decided to find somewhere else to sleep. Sakura had graciously offered her parents' guest bedroom.

Neither had expected to run into the Hogwarts ninja, let alone find Kakashi about to thrash the life out of Fred.

Haku ignored Sakura's stuttering and pointing, and even Kakashi's threatening stance. He had, after all, been in a far more frightening position in regards to this specific Konoha jounin.

"You!" he barked, pointing at Fred, "Henge! Now. You!" he turned to Kakashi, "Back off. I don't care _who_ he looks like. It's not on purpose, I assure you. And you two!" George and Hermione froze as he rounded on them. "I want an explanation. Now."

Fred winced, already back behind his illusion. Haku angry was not something that he had ever seen before. He looked about ready to launch into a scathing lecture not unlike those that his mother could whip out. However, unlike Molly Weasley, the ninja was able to hold his tongue.

For just how long, however, was the question. George, obviously, could see the same thing that his brother had noticed, and stumbled over his tongue trying to get out the explanation of the deal that they had made with Kakashi. And to that end, they had honoured their end of the deal. It was Kakashi who had flipped out when Fred had dropped his illusion.

Haku had, not surprisingly, reigned in his temper during Fred's explanation, and he was now rubbing the bridge of his nose in exasperation. The situation was grating on his already frayed nerves, but he would be damned if level heads did not prevail.

"And what, exactly, was so important that you would drop out of a henge, and possibly get us expelled from Konoha?"

"Expelled?" the three Hogwarts ninja were obviously surprised, which in turn surprised Kakashi. These kids honestly didn't know? They didn't understand the sort of impact that using a corpse-puppet had? Let alone one that had once belonged to the village they were currently in? Certainly, he was still irritated with them, but Hermione's question managed to stall his fury temporarily. "Why would we be expelled? Sen didn't do anything!"

It dawned on George first. "You said that you didn't recognise his new face!"

Haku didn't even blink at the accusation. "I am a ninja."

"What does that have to do—"

"George," Hermione cut in, not noticing that she had used his real name. "'I am a ninja, therefore I lie'. Haku is a ninja, therefore he lies. It's a universal maxim."

"A what…?" that came from every voice but her own, and the girl huffed in annoyance. She most certainly wasn't going to explain it if they didn't get it on the first round. Honestly, she hadn't read those philosophy books since before she had started at Hogwarts, so she didn't know if she was even remembering correctly. Not that they needed to know that.

Haku ignored his confusion in favour of looking towards Sakura and Kakashi. "Sen… doesn't have a body of his own. He used to be housed in Ito's doll, but something happened and it was destroyed. He was forced to inhabit the closest available object—in this case, the corpse of your comrade. This is considered an S-class secret—Sakura, that means that this is still bound by our deal. Hatake-san, as you are not bound with any deal with me, you may do whatever you need to with this information, but I do ask that you keep it to yourself."

"But he…" Sakura waved at Fred, unable to wrap her mind around it. "He's…"

"I know, but he doesn't."

"You could try explaining it," the undead grumbled. "Because all you're doing is making me _really_ curious."

"And you still haven't answered my question," Haku stared him down. "An answer for an answer. Silence for silence."

"We think that Scarecrow is Sirius Black," Hermione's voice was soft and hesitant.

"Sirius who?" Haku didn't recognise the name, but by the looks on the faces of the Hogwarts ninja, they had expected him to.

"Sirius Black!" Hermione squeaked, half in shock, "The man who murdered your parents!"

Haku tipped his head slightly. "I was under the impression that that was Voldemort."

"No, no," Fred shook his head. "Black was the only one who knew where your parents were. He sold them out and then killed one of his friends and thirteen mug—civilians."

"Oh." There wasn't much else they could say to that. His mind flashed back to the abnormally intelligent nin-dog, and his protective demeanour. That didn't fit the general profile of a man that had purposefully killed his parents. Really, who killed their friends and then tried to protect their child from all harm?

Actually, there was one more thing that Haku could say in regards to the matter of Scarecrow being a murderer. "So?"

"What?!" the trip, with the addition of Sakura, shrieked. Kakashi only raised a brown in question. He had a fairly good idea of why Haku didn't seem all that concerned.

"I can't condemn a man for killing thirteen civilians. I, too, have killed civilians, and for far more than that."

"But… your parents!" Hermione was aghast that Haku could so easily toss out Black's guilt and obvious evil.

Haku gave her a flat stare, and turned to their leaf-nin audience. "Tell me this. Do you swear vengeance on the one who gave Uchiha Itachi his sword, or is it upon Uchiha Itachi himself?"

The question went right over the heads of Sakura and the Hogwarts ninja, but Kakashi understood what he was asking. Vengeance was for the one who did the deed, not for the one who had allowed for it to happen. They were, after all, ninja and more often than not a war that was begun in vengeance would brew horrible consequences. To go after the guilty party alone would at least be cause for some consideration in the prevention of any ensuing hostilities.

"That said," Haku folded his hands demurely in his sleeves, his gaze focusing on Hatake Kakashi with single-minded determination. "I would not mind a session of interrogation in regards to his position within Voldemort's ranks and what his current plans are."

"That would only work if one of my dogs just so happens to be this 'Sirius Black'," even though he stumbled a bit over the foreign name, Kakashi matched him stare for star. "And as only _dogs_ can by summoned by my contract, it's doubtful."

"My people have their ways," Haku's serene sile had returned, and Kakashi relaxed slightly. He was still ready to spring into battle at an instance's notice, of course, as neither Haku nor his teammates were Leaf-nin. It would be foolish to fully trust them at only their word. Haku, on the other hand, appeared to be completely at ease with no intention of fighting the jounin. Only if Kakashi moved first would Haku draw the kunai strapped to his forearm.

The only harm that doing as they asked would do would be to his thumb. There was also the fact that he was curious to see how Haku and his teammates would interrogate a dog, and there wasn't much a of a reason _not_ to summon the dogs. They were, after all, considered a ninja weapon. If the mist-nin tried anything at all, any dog that had been summoned would only be too happy to assist the one who had summonsed them.

A moment later, the massive black nin-dog that the English ninja called Scarecrow had appeared in their midst. Confused at being summoned without a battle, he twisted in a circle, eyeing his surroundings. Well, that is, he eyed his surroundings until he caught sight of Haku.

With a happy bark, the dog barrelled headfirst into the mist ninja, knocking him to the floor. The other ninja hade taken a startled step forwards to try and save the 'doomed' shinobi—but they stopped by Haku's laughter as he manhandled the large dog off of him.

"Scarecrow, get down! I missed you, too, but this is _not_ the time!"

It took a few minutes of scolding and shoving in order to get the dog off of him and settled down. In moments like these, Haku wondered just who anyone could possibly even consider the notion that his dog could be a man. He was just too… dog-like. Happy-go-lucky borderline stupid, the sort of dog taken in as a family pet. However, they had a reason for calling Scarecrow to them, and idle speculation would get them nowhere.

Wands not held for a month were slipped into one living and one dead palm. The twins knew what to do, having long studied the animagus transformation for the their pranks and products. A split-second later, and there was a confused, scruffy looking man in Konoha ANBU-issue armor kneeling on the floor in front of Haku.

* * *

End Chapter

Bleh, two days taken to type this up.

Quote at the top is from Crank. If you haven't seen it, don't ask. If you have seen it... did that scene make you laugh? Because it made us laugh. Actually, most of Crank made us laugh. Like the subtitles. And now you know what I did for my holiday Monday.

Well, after I finished working. Yay time and a half.

Seeing as I'm now back in class, you would think I'd have less time to write. You'd be wrong! I wrote the rough drafts for three chapters in the past two days. I am shocked and amazed, and blaming it on the fact that I don't have a bag to lug my laptop to class in. So no games for me during my one and two hour breaks between classes.

Oh, and I love spellcheck. It always tries to replace Itachi with Itch. And people ask me why I'm evil.

**edit** - I almost forgot! An omake by Shadow Crystal Mage.

* * *

"So, are there any other ninjas around here?" Sakura-Harry asked out loud, looking around.

A hand shot out of one of the nearby cells. "Here," a casual voice said, to be followed by a face that was certainly Harry Potter, wearing a Leaf protector in such a way that it showed off his scar. "They got you guys too, huh? Uzumaki Harry, at your service."

Sakura-Harry and Haku-Harry blinked. "Uzumaki?" Haku-Harry said slowly. "As in..."

"Naruto's brother," the other Harry clarified. "Anyone know who we're up against? Because so help me, if it's another gay, crossdressing, pedophile snake-bastard..."

"I take exception to that," a hissing voice interrupted from nearby, one that sent shivers up Sakura-Harry and Haku-Harry's spines. Slowly, the two turned to look towards the speaker.

"Hey, who are you? And what's with the purple makeup?" Uzumaki said, making the other two wonder whether there was something in the name that just made you stupid.

The speaker made a slow bow. "I am Potter Orochimaru," he said, languidly flicking a long lock of hair to reveal the scar.

Meanwhile, somewhere else...

"Hey, where the fuck am I? Ron? Hermione? Neville? Oh, screw this... Darkness Beyond Twilight, Crimson Beyond Blood that Flows..."

* * *

**original word count: **2688  
**revision word count:** 2930


	32. chapter 32

_Dreamless dorm, ticking clock, I walk away from the soundless room..._

* * *

**For Your Dream  
**Volume 3, Chapter Thirty-two  
The Itch

* * *

There were a number of things that he had never intended to happen. One of these, Sirius Black reflected morosely, was the fact that he had had every intention of never resuming his human form for the rest of his misbegotten life. He had planned on remaining a nin-dog until he died in the field; in that way, he would have been fighting the good fight and protecting his most precious people from harm. He wouldn't have to worry about Aurors or prison terms. There would be no thoughts of dementors or even, in all honesty, magic. All that was behind him, and before him were his precious people and his life in the world of the ninja.

His precious people…

At first, so long ago, there had been James. Remus, Peter, and Lily came later. With the betrayal and deaths of the Potters, as well as Remus' understandable hatred, he had focused his everything onto Harry. That precious little child that had been the heart and soul of the Marauders from his birth onwards had been the saving balm on his soul when locked away in Azkaban.

Then there was Kakashi, who was both the first of the ninja to have summoned him into battle and the one that summoned him the most. When it came down to it, Sirius supposed that even Momochi Zabuza could be considered one of his precious people, and so too was Remus, even with all the darkness and hatred that was between them. He would never allow either of them to harm, despite their opinions of him.

Now, however, he was sitting in the Barracks. He was surrounded by ninja that were more than likely hostile towards him for his deception, and he had been forced back into his birth form by a pair of wizards playing at being assassins. After so long, and after so much hope, his oh-so=carefully planned out future was shattering before his eyes, the sharp fragments of it cutting deeply into his soul. Haku would learn of the damning untruths that the Wizarding World believed and would turn against him. Kakashi would never take the care to specifically summon the animagus again, and he might as well just consign himself to public execution. Whether it would be in England or Konoha, it wouldn't matter. After all, without the proof of Peter's continued survival, he didn't stand a chance of clearing his own name.

Once more he felt that oh-so-familiar bite of fury, guilt and pain that had accompanied his thoughts of Wormtail for so long. Wallowing in that feeling as he was, he completely missed Haku's first question, and it was only the raised eyebrow of his godson that made him realize that something had been seen. Ducking his head slightly, Sirius gave a sheepish little smile. "Sorry, I missed that."

The mist-nin gave an exasperated sigh. "Are you the Wizard Sirius Black, or are you some other ninja?"

It was with a start that he realized that he was still wearing the ANBU armour that he had donned on his last trip into humanity. His hands shook as he removed the mask that still covered his face, laying it ever so softly and delicately into his lap. He wouldn't lie to his precious people, he decided, and he looked up with wary eyes. He might not survive his meeting, but he would be _damned_ if he felt any more regrets before he died.

"I am."

A gesture from the wand of one of the twins was matched with a half-mumbled spell. The animagus found himself wrapped up in a myriad of ropes and chains, but he didn't try to fight them.

Haku's stare was measuring, as though he were considering Sirius' worth in the grand scheme of things. Whatever it was that was going through his mind, however, Sirius couldn't even begin to guess. To be honest the dog animagus wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to attempt it.

"What was your relationship to my parents?"

Sirius blinked. He had been expecting accusations. Shouting, rage, anything really, but not questions. Given the looks on the faces of the little magic-users they had thought along much the same lines. The dog animagus wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth, however, and shrugged awkwardly. "Your father was my best mate. If Lily hadn't proposed to him, I would've proposed to her."

Haku frowned thoughtfully. "Was it jealousy, then, why you aided in their deaths?"

"No! Never!" it was a barked denial, and it took the man a few minutes to reign in his temper. "I had _nothing_ to do with their deaths!" Reigning his temper in, however, was apparently not enough to keep the frustration out of his voice.

"Ah. Why is it, then, that they—" and here, Haku motioned to his teammates, "—believe that you did?"

Sirius bowed his head again, his voice tight with emotion. "I was the most logical Secret Keeper, so I suggested that we switch to that traitorous rat Peter."

"_You_ killed Peter Pettigrew," Hermione interrupted. "How can you even stand yourself, blaming a dead man for—"

"He's not dead."

Sirius' quiet and firm declaration brought her rant to a premature halt. "What?"

"He's not dead," Sirius repeated it slowly, as though he were speaking with a particularly dense young child. "The bloody bastard set me up. He blew up the road and cut off his own damn finger before changing into his rat form and scampering off like the coward he is."

As Hermione and Sirius began to argue about what it was that actually happened on that fateful day fourteen years earlier, the twins shared a knowing glance an a sinking feeling. Quietly, they backed out of the misshapen ring, muttering softly between themselves. Haku gave them a cursory look before returning his attention to the battle of wits.

"Do you _really_ think that something that could vaporize an entire body would leave behind a single finger while still managing to get the thirteen people _behind_ the target?"

"You probably just have poor aim!"

"Right, right, because _poor aim_ would explain everything! Never mind the fact that it was a wide-spray hex, catching victims in a semi-circle behind Pettigrew!"

"Then his finger was blocked by something else that was destroyed instead!"

"Oh please, the only way that would have happened would have required a standard blasting hex and there's no way that that would have taken out the people behind him!"

"You're the right hand of Voldemort, you probably have the power to do that to start with!"

"Wrong! But it's not like anyone bothered to check my wand to see what I'd actually cast in that so-called 'battle'!"

"There were witnesses!"

"Who were immediately oblivated!"

Hermione stopped her line of reasoning in shock. "They what?"

"They were _obliviated_." Sirius spat, scowling at the memory. "For their own good, of course. The Aurors were there for all of thirty seconds before they started wiping the memories of the witnessing muggles. I was still standing there, I know what I saw. I also know that you can't trust the word of someone who has been oblivated!"

"That… that doesn't make any…" she falted in confusion, put off by the sheer illogic of it. "Why? Why would they damage their own case like that?" Hermione, it should be noted, had the one thing that the vast majority of the Wizarding populace did not: common sense.

"It's far easier to believe the worst of people," Haku mused softly, finally getting a word in edgewise. "It would seem, however, that there isn't much of a way to solve this dilemma."

"Au contraire, my friend!"

"For we do believe that we have discovered something—"

"—most hexing, and vexing. Truth revealing, if I might suggest." Satisfied that they had all eyes on them, the twins smiled identical smug smiles. George continued rather imperiously. "To prove one's guilt or innocence—"

"—you seek a rat that is missing one of his toes."

"Well! You just so happen to be in luck!"

"For we know of one such rat!"

Sakura glowered at the tricksters. "One of you speak, the other one stays quiet. You're giving me a headache."

"Yes," Hermione agreed, pressing her palm to her forehead, although it seemed to be more for the sake of dramatization than anything else. Haku suppressed a chuckle that wanted to escape at the scene. That poor girl had obviously spent far too much time with the twins. "I'm getting dizzy just from looking back and forth between you two."

Oh yes, definitely for the dramatization, that one. Haku smiled congenially, keeping his amusement to himself. "It's easier to simply ignore it."

Kakashi, on the other hand, had no such compunction and was happily snickering away. It was apparent that not even the fact that they were teammates made someone immune to the oddity that was the twins.

"You… you know where Wormtail is?" the dog-turned-man's voice was quiet and faltering, although filled with an all too noticeable hope.

The nickname brought the twins up short. "Wormtail? As in… Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail? The _Marauders_?"

At that, Sirius seemed to puff up with pride, despite being bound and helpless. "Ah, so McGonagall is still telling stories about us, huh?"

"You were a Marauder?" the Twins squeaked together in fangirlish glee.

"Mister Padfoot, at your service." Although constrained by the rope the boys had conjured, Sirius still attempted to bow. "It's nice to see that we still have our fans."

"We've tried to model ourselves after you!" they were still speaking as one, and Sakura could only watch incredulously as Fred and George seemed to slip right into a bout of what could only be considered 'fangirling'. They were acting so much like the multitudes of girls that were hunting for Sasuke's love. It was disturbing. It was frightening. It was so horribly off-topic.

Her eyebrow began to twitch as the boys and their captive somehow got into a discussion on how to get the best area effect from a dung bomb. Despite her attempts to calm herself, not even four deep cleansing breaths could wash away her irritation at yet another sidetrack. This was not helping them in _any_ way.

The solution to this problem, however, was a rather quick and easy one. She simply slammed their skulls together. "Shut. Up." Inner Sakura had rather obviously come to the forefront of her personality as she growled: "This is _not_ why we're here."

Now, granted, she hadn't been part of the original group that had intended to summon Black. However, now that he was here she was finding herself very curious. Curious about one fact in particular, really; something that had been nagging at her since the transformation had forced. It was a question that, despite the obviousness of it, didn't seem to be on the list of questions Haku and his teammates wanted to ask.

Normally, Sakura was only this forceful around Naruto. Even with Ino and their rivalry, she held back this part of herself. However, there was something about this group… something about their chemistry that drew her to them. This was what a ninja team should be like, she thought. Sure, they bickered and argued, and they could even be down right nasty to one another… but they helped each other out.

When was the last time that Sasuke or Naruto had asked her for her help? Actually, come to think of it, when had they even considered it without her having to butt her way in and demand it? When was the last time that Kakashi had specifically tutored her and her alone, in a battle situation or fighting technique?

She hated the way that she always seemed to be shunted to the side and ignored. She was always left alone, so was it any wonder that she was always the one that seemed to need to be protected? The one that they rescued more often than trusted to have at their backs? She had vowed to not allow herself to be pigeonholed that way ever again, and goddammit but she would see that vow through! She refused to abandon Team Seven or even her quest to gain Sasuke's love. However, right now the goal was to get strong and to be worthy of them. She would have to learn about her seal and about how _real_ teamwork was supposed to be. That was the important part, the part that would help her to become the kunoichi that she had joined the academy to become.

And the first step on that path, it seemed, was to help Haku.

The pink-haired preteen pushed past the twins to stare down at the scruffy-looking former dog. "So… how exactly does a human being become an animal summon?"

"That is a very good question, Sakura." Kakashi eyed the man who had been one of his most trusted summons warily. The discovery that, yes, Sirius-the-dog and Sirius-the-man were the same being had thrown him for a loop. While a ninja using an animal illusion to hide his or herself was hardly a new concept, this was something entirely different. This man had honestly, truly, without a doubt _become_ a dog. It had been right down to the feel of his chakra.

That was, after all, the only way that the summoning contract would have been able to pick him up, and this newfound knowledge made Kakashi uneasy. How many other summons were secretly human?

Sirius wilted as Kakashi's suspicions became visible. Perhaps it wasn't visible to the children in the room, but to someone who had spent so much time in the man's presence, so much time as a type of animal that could read the emotions of the people around it… the wary stare and slightly tensing of the shoulders forcibly relaxed a moment later were clear indications. He hated it when people looked at him like that. The days where such suspicions would be related to whatever prank he and his friends had pulled had long since passed. To have one of his most precious people look at him like that…! It was worse than Remus' howling fury and constant cloak of shadow following That Night.

"Scarecrow."

Sirius started, drawing himself up and out of the pit of dreary memories. Haku's cool green eyes were dispassionate, but not suspicious. That… helped. A lot, actually. The animagus felt some of his own tension leave his body and he closed his eyes for a brief second. Haku was accepting him. Animagus transformations, magic, wonder and awe… it was all a part of being Harry James Potter, even if he no longer laid claim to the name. The wizardlings would be familiar enough with what he was going to say that he didn't feel any need to direct comment to them. They would be able to explain it all to Sakura if they so wished.

With that firmly in mind, the ragged man turned his full attention to Kakashi. "Understand, first, that I never intended to resume my human shape ever again."

That got a round of blinks, but it was Haku who wondered why he would prefer the form of a dog over that of his birth. It was spoken in a soft though unconcerned voice, just what Sirius needed to hear.

"I'm not hunted as a dog," Sirius joked, though it was delivered in a tone that clearly indicated that it was actually part of the reason, major or minor. The man shook his head after a moment, "It's been known for years that after enough time in an animal form, it becomes more comfortable to wear than your own skin. There are warnings in all of the books, and in all of the reference material. They're in everything even remotely connected to the transformation. It's why it's regulated by Wizarding Governments the world over. And… well, I spent far more time as a dog than as a human while in Azkaban."

"I've been wondering about that." She may not have been able to see him, and her gaze was actually pointed at a spot about three feet above his head, her voice held all of the curiosity that her empty eye sockets couldn't.

"About what?"

"How did you escape Azkaban prison? It's the Wizarding equivalent to Alcatraz!"

Everyone stared at her, Wizard and Ninja alike. Sakura broke the silence with a rather confused question. "What's an Alcatraz? Or an Azkaban?"

Hermione huffed, and crossed her arms petulantly. Five years in the Wizarding World, and she still had a habit of referring to muggle places and things. It was a difficult habit to break when one has no wizard or witch friends. "They're prisons. Alcatraz is an infamous inescapable island prison in America. Azkaban is an infamous inescapable island prison for Wizards."

The two leaf ninja shared a confused glance, and Sakura once more stepped forwards for clarification. "America? Wizards?"

"Oh never mind," the blind teenager grumbled. "I just want to know how he escaped!" she was jabbing her finger into the air. Unfortunately for her, instead of pointing at Sirius, she happened to be a little too far to the right.

Kakashi paused for a second and then chuckled. "You know, she does have a point. How _did_ you escape, Haku?"

The mist ninja smiled gently. "Trade secret."

Hermione's frustrated growl brought the ninja back on topic, and all eyes returned to the bound Sirius Black. The animagus shrugged. "I didn't."

"Now, seeing as you are right here," Kakashi drawled, "I would have to say that you did."

"No," Sirius repeated, shaking his head with a maddening grin. "I didn't. You were the one that set me free, Kakashi."

The response to that particular statement was one that was becoming all too familiar to their little "council": dumbfounded staring. After a long moment of trying to find his voice, Kakashi managed to compose few sentences. "I'm pretty sure that I would remember that. As I don't, that me—"

"I was a dog at the time," Sirius interrupted him, eager to make his most precious ones understand the truth. He needed them to understand him and to not turn him away. He needed them, and he needed their love and needed their trust. "I felt… it was like this light tug, kind of like a portkey… but it was softer, somehow. I didn't really understand it then, but by that point, I figured that it was just death coming to collect. Who gets away from death in Azkaban, huh?" the chuckle that he gave was more than just a little bitter. "So I let it. I let it take me away and the next thing that I knew, I was in the midst of a battlefield."

Given the way that Kakashi had gone rigid as an indication, it was fairly obvious that he did recall his "rescue" of Sirius Black. It had been the very first time that he had summoned Sirius to him, as the massive black dog had been just what he needed in order to escape a mission that had gone downhill very fast and very unexpectedly. Only moments after he had finished the summoning, he had collapsed on top of the dog and commanded him to take him to safety. After that… well, the then ANBU had passed out from blood loss.

Actually… now that he thought about it, a closer examination of the armor that Sirius was wearing revealed a fine network of spidery cracks in the chest plate, and blood splatters on an all too familiar mask. He recognized the armor now; it had been stripped from the body of one of his fallen comrades.

Kakashi wasn't sure what to think about that.

"I remember." He finally acknowledged in a voice laden with dark memories.

Sirius gave him a small, shy grin. It seemed rather out of place on his face, but there it was anyways. "After that… well, I just came whenever you called for me. When I was dismissed, I just… didn't go back to Azkaban. I guess what whatever called me out here just wasn't strong enough to put me back."

The room was silent for a long minute after that, questions hovering unasked and unanswered in the air between them all. Like Kakashi, Sakura had connected the dots between the fact that she had been given, and had come to a rather unnerving conclusion. As her mind raced with the possibilities, she wondered out loud: "Do you think that there are other summons out there like you? Human and animal?"

"No," Sirius' voice was confident as he shook his head. "I don't think—I know there are. There are just some things that are way too conincidental to be coincidence."

"Like…?"

"Like Gamabunta." Sirius turned to look at the Wizarding contingent. "I don't know if you covered this in your classes, but do you remember what the first true animagus was? The Frog Prince, they called him, but he was really a toad. There are a few other summons with names and forms that match well known animagi."

"Wait—_Gambunta_ is human?" now that was a revelation that brought Kakashi's run away memories to a rather abrupt and painful stop. "But he's been a summon for generations!"

Sirius shrugged. "Wizards live a whole lot longer than ninja. If it helps, think of it like a bloodline that makes us hard to kill."

_Speaking of killing…_ Hermione's thoughts were dark with annoyance. She was starting to think that it was just her and Sakura—and even then, Sakura could be distracted by an interesting problem!—that were interested in actually getting answers out of the convict. "We've gotten off topic. Again."

Sirius' cheerful, "It happens!" was met by a fierce glare. Granted, she was still looking at the air three feet above his head, but he got the idea that she wasn't all that impressed with his "wit". The Black Heir sighed and went back to the reason why he was currently human. "What do you want to know _now_? I've told you about Lily and James and Peter. I've told you about how I escaped and the Summoning. What else is there?"

"What is Voldemort up to?"

Sirius blinked dumbly at her, before crooking an eyebrow in question. "I would imagine that he's up to the ninth level of hell by now."

"Don't play coy!" Hermione snapped. "Even if you didn't kill Peter or the civilians, that doesn't meant that you aren't one of the Dark Lord's servants! You're a _Black_!"

"Just because the rest of my family are Dark Wizards and supporters doesn't make me one!" Sirius spat, baring his teeth in an all too dog-like reaction.

The twins leapt forwards to run interference between the two. George was attempting to get the irate dog animagic to settle down, while Fred pulled Hermione away from him. Despite the fact that Black was still bound in chains and ropes, he was still a very dangerous man. He had been an Auror prior to his arrest, and then a nin-dog for two years. Fred had absolutely no doubt in his mind that the only reason why the ropes his brother had cast held him was because he was _letting_ them.

"Hermione!" Fred hissed, trying to make the stubborn kunoichi-witch understand the very delicate line that she was stomping all over. "That's like saying that just because your family is made up of muggles that you can't do any magic!"

"No it's not!" she was still snapping and hissing, all bright rage and fury at being told she was wrong. She was most definitely not a quiet as the twin. "His parents were dark, and his cousins were dark! His entire family was dark! His formative years were spent that way, and he's the one who wanted to switch to a different Secret Keeper! He _must_ be dark! The ministry wouldn't have locked him up otherwise!"

Sirius looked about ready to tear into her; his own fury at his standing being questioned bringing the wolf hidden by the dog to the forefront. However, it was Haku's response that ripped through the pair of raging magic users. Sirius fell into a shocked silence, and Hermione could do nothing but shiver as he directed his vitriol at her.

His voice was as cold as an arctic wind, his words spoken at barely a whisper, but they were still perfectly clear in the suddenly silent room. "I suppose that I should be a horrible abuser because that's what I grew up with during _my_ formative years. Oh, that's right. They're dead. I killed them. I suppose that's proof enough, then."|

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**E**nd Chapter

As promised! Chapter 32 of FYD is posted on tiiiiiime

Please don't rant at me about the length of time between updates, that is NOT what I am referring to. I am referring to the promise I made to the guys on my mailing list/beta-reading yahoo group of doom that I would be posting this chapter today. If you want to know the truth behind why I haven't updated in almost--wow, two years-- there are a couple of extenuating factors. The first was that my laptop kept killing itself roughly every three months for a year and a half. It's finally stopped. After having rewritten a chapter four times, I lost all enthusiasm for writing. I made my attempts to dredge myself out with _Alternate Potterverse_ and _Prophecy Bound_ however choosing to do so while heavily invested in writing research papers for multiple professors was not the most intelligent of ideas. It, in fact, made me _less_ inclined to do any creative writing.

That said, for those of you who have me on Author's Alert will have noticed the recent posting of _False Identity: Secondary Timeline_. That is, at this time, the story that is taking up most of my time. The good news is that it's already written; all I'm doing is rewriting it a little more coherent and a little more cohesive. The bad news is that I've picked up Perfect Lionheart's Missing Hokage Challenge, and that's my "secondary" project. If I'm not thinking about ST, I'm thinking about _The Path Too_, the first chapter of which is currently available in bits and pieces on my yahoo group.

ST got me back into the groove, and reminded me how much fun writing could be. TPT is helping me get back to writing regularly. So where does that leave _For Your Dream, Prophecy Bound _and _Blackened Sunrise_? Once I finish with ST, I will be going back and going through the exact same process I'm using on ST on BS. BSR will be resurrected, and hopefully for good this time ;D

_Prophecy Bound_ is on the back burner until I can remember which notebook I wrote the plot down in.

As for _For Your Dream _(which I assume is the one most of you are dying to know about) it **will be finished.** I have never, in the entire time the story has taken a back seat to my school work and the randomness that is my life, even _considered_ dropping it. I'll be working on it between ST and TPT, when I need a break from the psycho craziness of ST and the romantic drama of TPT (oh god, I'm writing romance. why am I writing ROMANCE!?).

So updates may take awhile, but rest assured, I am working on them. I'm also trying to write chapters longer than three thousand words. Before this author's note, this chapter hit 3750 words; compare that to ST's first chapter's 10742 words before the author's note. I know which of those I prefer, and that's what I'll be aiming for.

Also, I'm in the process of slowly revising the previous chapters. There is no actual content change, just some grammar and spelling fixes-- and the addition of at least 300 words per chapter.

Thank you all for being so patient with me and my inability to sit down and write for so long!

_- Sammi Leigh, "The Itch"_

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**original word count:** 3638  
**revision word count: **4133


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